Beyond Romance: mystery

Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts

Friday, June 5, 2020

Two strangers on the same path - #romance #mystery #giveaway @Beenaxkhan

Blurb

Two strangers on the same path.

Survivors. Companions.

They will be each other’s salvation.

On a rainy, winter night, a mysterious woman in a red dress seeking shelter comes inside the restaurant Kabir was busy working in —primarily the bar— and night after night, drink after drink, she comes back to the same spot. That is where he sees her for the first time.

Hundreds of patrons around her try to speak with her daily, but she dismisses them. It appears she wants to remain in a blissful peace alone with her booze and books. After seeing the mysterious woman reading a book, and because of his shy nature, Kabir gains entrance into her life by anonymously leaving books with notes for her.

The Name of Red is the story of two strangers, two different personalities who meet on a winter, rainy night who challenge each other. They have a connection which blossoms into a friendship due to their fondness of books. But they both have secrets that can bind them together or threaten their newfound relationship forever.

Excerpt

The restaurant Ferdaus was filled with a buzzing crowd.

The smoke around the people twisted and formed curls, illuminated under the bar lights. The atmosphere was a hazy cloud, lingering against their clothes. Several people came in seeking shelter from the pouring rain outside. The customers of the restaurant turned to look at the entrance door- bell jingling. They glanced at the large crowd coming as the glass door was pulled open, and they watched as someone new stepped in behind them.

The woman walked into the bar for the first time in the winter rain.

She didn’t have an umbrella on her; her little sleeveless dress ended at her ankles, fully drenched. Her wet dress clung to her body, showcasing the outlines of her curves. In one hand, she was carrying the skirt of her dress. Suddenly, she let it go, and her long, bare arms moved upwards as she tried to fix her damp hair which had darkened in intensity due to the rain. It fell past her shoulders, the strands sticking to her face. She attempted to comb through the tangles with her fingertips.

The men watched her movements hungrily, their eager faces drawn to her and at the sight of someone new. Their eyes trailed from her face, to her wet body, then back to the movements of her hands entwined in her hair. Under her arm, she carried a book and a trench coat. It appeared strange she wasn't wearing the coat when it was pouring outside and freezing in the middle of November. Men were left mesmerized by her, and she turned heads as she walked by. Something radiated from within her, drawing the men around her in.

The women who were with some of these men noticed their gaze on the unfamiliar woman. Now they stared at her with jealousy and anger.

Who is she? they wondered.

About the Author

Beena Khan lives in a suburb in Queens, New York in her apartment. She is 27 years old from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. She is an immigrant who moved to New York when she was five years old. She currently holds a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology from CUNY School of Professional Sciences. She enjoys reading, writing, and netflixing. This is her debut novel.

Her website is www.beenakhan.com. Sign up for her newsletter where you can subscribe for book news, writing tips, upcoming releases, and exclusive content!

Instagram: @Beenaxkhan

Twitter: @Beenaxkhan

Facebook @Beenaxkhan

Goodreads Book: @Beenaxkhan

Newsletter: https://beenakhan.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe/post

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olriaVfGC04

The Name of Red is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087ZLC1GF/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Name-Red-Beena-Khan-ebook/dp/B087ZLC1GF/

https://www.amazon.ca/Name-Red-Beena-Khan-ebook/dp/B087ZLC1GF/

https://www.amazon.com.au/Name-Red-Beena-Khan-ebook/dp/B087ZLC1GF/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940163067138

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1019667

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53209503-the-name-of-red

Beena Khan is giving away three ebook copies of the book and a $10 bookstore gift certificate during the tour. (Four winners total!) Use the Rafflecopter below to enter.

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Thursday, May 21, 2020

Better than no luck at all... #Review #Giveaway #Mystery #SexTrade @TopsheeJ

Blurb

Hard Luck Girl is a mystery about prostitution in a location better known for gardens than gangsters — Victoria, British Columbia.

Rose's life has never been easy. When she finds her pimp murdered it gets a whole lot harder. At first, she sees it as an opportunity but discovers the status quo has been disrupted and she's not at the top of the food chain, not even close.

Avoiding psychopaths, police, and friends like thieves, there is no one she can turn to for help not once she discovers a pimp's life is cheap, a prostitute's even cheaper.

Stuck between the desire for a better life and holding on to hers, is a needle she's not sure she can thread. But maybe Hard Luck is better than no luck at all?

"A gritty novel with a surprising and strong female lead. Johnston offers all the expected hard-boiled elements in this mystery—including shady characters, near misses with the police, rampant sex, drug use, and violence.”- Kirkus Review

Excerpt

On my knees, I pulled Rod’s stash out from the air conditioner. I took a hefty-sized rock, held it in my hand, and weighed both it and the circumstances. She came for crystal meth, but she’d take whatever I gave her. I dug back in the air conditioner and pulled out the suspect bag when her words stuck me. “He’s got that good ice.” How did she know that? It was a chance to conduct an experiment and find out what she knew. If someone came back for the drugs and saw that the bag was short, I’d pay for it or replace it. No harm, no foul. But if it was laced with fentanyl and had in fact killed Rod, Suzy would be dead in minutes. It might make me complicit in murder, but she’d end up there at some point anyway, like a package in the mail. I’d just upgraded the shipping. If it didn’t kill her, she’d be grateful to me for giving it to her. If caught with it, she could point her finger at me and remain innocent. We were a begrudged sisterhood of sorts, we all hated the clients, society and life—we didn’t care for each other all that much either.

She looked like a dog waiting for a treat when I opened the door. She stepped toward me, hands out and palms open. She examined it before I’d even placed the poison apple in her hand, as if it were a cruel joke. She waited for me to name my price, and I let her sweat like I was about to but didn’t. I placed it in her hand, and to let her off my invisible leash said, “Don’t worry. I know you’re good for it.” She wet her cracked lips, possibly thinking about the repercussions, but her immediate appetite trumped an unknown future. She wasn’t good for it, and luckily, she didn’t have to be. I’d used her cravings against her and gained at least a favor.

Review by Lisabet Sarai

It’s just another job. That’s part of the message in Topshee Johnston’s fascinating thriller Hard Luck Girl. Prostitutes prefer to call their work “the sex trade”. This non-judgmental description is not a just euphemism, it’s an accurate description. Prostitution is a commercial transaction like any other: the sex worker trades sexual acts for money. How is this different from taking money for fixing somebody’s car, or cleaning their house, or mowing their lawn? The difference lies the eye of the beholder – in society’s notions that sex is somehow evil or immoral, especially when the participants are not committed to one another.

It’s just another job, but it’s not any easy one. Rose, the intriguing heroine in Hard Luck Girl, makes that clear. Prostitution shares a lot with theater. The best practitioners offer their clients illusions as well as physical release. Doing well requires not just an attractive body and well-developed erotic skills but also the ability to adapt to the moods of the john and to make him feel special – even though deep down he knows he wouldn’t be getting anything at all if he didn’t have the cash.

Some women are forced into the sex trade. Rose chose her career with her eyes open, under the influence of her role model Sara, and she’s not sorry. She’s smart, responsible, classy. She makes a good living. She’s worked her way up to being Rodney the pimp’s top girl, which means she has some authority with the other women in his stable. They look up to her as a role model, strange as that might seem.

So when Rodney is murdered, she has the crazy notion that maybe she can hide that fact, at least for a while. Rodney would want the girls to keep producing. She thinks she can make that happen, while she tries to figure out why he was killed, and by whom. She’s only half right, for the odds are stacked against her.

I really enjoyed reading Hard Luck Girl. The first person narrative pulls you into Rose’s head and lets you experience her cold-blooded calculations as well as her roller coaster moods. There are some intensely dramatic scenes, including the final confrontation with the villains. There are also vignettes that illustrate how much of the world views the sex trade. For instance, when Rose walks into a hardware store to acquire supplies she needs to dispose of Rodney’s body, the proprietor treats her like dirt – until he realizes she’s about to drop six hundred dollars for her purchases.

The plot felt a bit shaky to me. In particular, I found it implausible that Rose could leave a dead body in a truck in a parking lot for multiple days without anyone detecting it. The real bad guys turn out to be invisible and I wasn’t completely convinced that the proximate villains, who were more greedy than evil, would have chosen to do business with them.

However, despite this being a mystery, the focus is more on characters than plot. Rose is a compelling heroine, complicated and contradictory. She’s clearly very intelligent, but she sometimes acts on impulse and makes stupid decisions. Rodney is dead when the story opens, but we still get a glimpse of his personality, including his affinity for order and his devotion to his mother. Suzy the addict is convincingly scattered, scheming and desperate. Gorgeous, hard-boiled Sara appears only fleetingly, but leaves you with chills running down your spine. Even the local homeless guy has a distinctive voice and presence.

When I agreed to review Hard Luck Girl, I thought the author was a woman. Only when I set up this blog post did I realize that Topshee Johnston is male. I’m truly impressed by his ability to create such a complex and believable female heroine – and by his courage and creativity in making her a sex worker.

About the Author

Topshee Johnston, author of Hard Luck Girl, writes because it's the only way to get his characters to stop talking to him. He lets them tell their story and trusts their voice. Once a story is finished, he moves on to the next in line.

He lives in Victoria, B.C with his wife and daughter and when he's not writing, he's skateboarding, playing guitar, or fly-fishing.

Connect with Canadian author Topshee Johnston on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, or on his website.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19807646.Topshee_Johnston

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/topsheejohnston/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/topsheejohnston/

Website: http://topsheejohnston.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TopsheeJ

Check out the book on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and Indigo/Chapters!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Hard-Luck-Girl-Topshee-Johnston-ebook/dp/B0829CQ51D/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49185903-hard-luck-girl

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hard-luck-girl-topshee-johnston/1135330300

Indigo/Chapters: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/hard-luck-girl/9780228822486-item.html

Topshee Johnston is giving away a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to one lucky reader during the tour.

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Monday, March 9, 2020

A cozy Florida mystery - #Giveaway #Fraud #Mystery

Blurb

Murder at Eagle's Nest is a gentle mystery novel set in a peaceful vacation resort in Apalachicola on Florida's Forgotten Coast. The area is still reeling after Hurricane Michael made landfall only thirty-five miles to the west, on Mexico Beach. It uncovers fraud, driven by greed and arrogance. However, everything changes when a body is discovered. The police detective brought in from Tallahassee quickly enlists the help of two women staying at the resort, who have unusual insight. They ultimately uncover critical evidence, which unmasks the perpetrator.

Excerpt

Hazel remembered seeing the Comfort Suites Inn as they drove through the outskirts of Panama City. The Airforce Base was located on the main highway and although it had clearly suffered damage during the hurricane, it appeared to be operational. They pulled into the hotel parking lot and made their way to the front desk.

They decided to continue with the story of trying to find a lost friend and approached the front desk manager. Hazel began, “Good Morning. We are sorry to trouble you, but we are hoping you can help us. We are looking for a friend of ours who seems to have gone missing. His name is Randy Jacket and this is his picture.” Hazel held up the photo, then continued, “A young man out at Dugger Field seemed to think he may have stayed here for a couple of nights last week. Do you remember him?”

The manager looked at the photograph and answered, “You say he is missing? Because we don’t normally give out information about our guests.”

Hazel said, “That’s right. And it sounds like he did stay here. Is there anything you can tell us about his visit? We are just trying to gather information.”

The manager, realizing he had been caught by his own words, said, “Well, yes, he was here. Interesting gentleman. He was telling us that his company is going to rebuild Mexico Beach. They are going to build a super new, high class condominium complex, it is going to be the flagship property for his company, he said. He was clearly excited by the whole thing. They have bought all the land and he was going to check it out on the Thursday. Must have been a big property to inspect, because he left after breakfast and didn’t get back until about three o’clock in the morning. I just happened to be working the nightshift and saw him come in. He looked exhausted. I don’t think he even saw me as he walked past the desk. He looked a mess too. His clothes were all dirty. But I guess if you have spent your day on a building site, it is to be expected. “

About the Author

I’m originally from Manchester, England but moved to the U.S. over 30 years ago. I have an accounting background in both countries. Several years ago, I discovered an interest in writing. My two previous books, Finding God in an RV and The Power Within, document my spiritual journey. However, as a longtime lover of murder mysteries, with a passion to follow plots and figure out the perpetrator, it was time for a new direction. I decided to ‘try my hand’ at weaving my own story, and true to my character, I had to tie up all the loose ends. Murder at Eagles Nest is my first mystery novel, and I am already working on the next mystery for my amateur detectives Hazel and Anna to solve.

Facebook: facebook.com/writesstoriesrealandimagined

Amazon Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Eagles-Nest-Pat-Duggan/dp/1711002771

Pat Duggan will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

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Monday, November 11, 2019

Lawyers, Guns and Money - #Mystery #FemmeFatale #Giveaway @Owlworks

Welcome back to Beyond Romance, M.T.! Can you tell my readers a bit about the genesis of the book? Where did you get the idea? Do you have personal experience with the worlds of Article 15?

There was a series of movies in the 80s & 90s which featured very strong, sensual, and, shall we say, somewhat morally questionable women. Lawrence Kasdan, Ron Dahl, and Joe Esterhas led us down dark paths fraught with lustful terror in Body Heat, The Last Seduction and Basic Instinct. I loved those movies and those characters, so a big thank you to Kathleen Turner, Linda Fiorentino and Sharon Stone for the opening line of Article 15:

“She was one in a million and the day I met her I should have bought a lottery ticket instead.”

I sat on that line for a long, long time. The real problem was not so much the femme fatale. It was her adversary. I wanted more of a challenge for her. More of an equal than Ned Racine or Mike Swale. That and the fact that I still had no clue what the story would be.

I was actually piling up the words for a completely different book, a sequel to my first novel, My Brother’s Keeper, when all the pieces just fell into place like a backwards film of a Jenga game a year or so ago. Not only that, but for the very first time, I had a contemporary story. I’ve set my books in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s & 1970s. Then I skipped way ahead in my Munchausen Series into the future. But nothing in the here and now. So I set aside Jungleland and started in on the story of Helena and Griff.

She is a modern “face that launched a thousand ships” with a half a billion dollars in the bank and some ugly suspicions about her father’s death, a billionaire tech sector investor.

He’s a Wyoming cowboy who served in the Navy SEALs and operates as a “fixer” for his high powered Chicago lawyer buddy Lance Baylor.

She owes her wealth to Google and Facebook.

He’s free range, off the Facebook feedlot.

But who’s playing who?

Most of what happens in Article 15 is way over my pay grade, though most of Griff’s flying experiences can be found scattered about in my pilot log book from the times I lived and flew out west.

Blurb

“She was one in a million…and the day I met her I should have bought a lottery ticket instead.”

Griffith Crowe, the "fixer" for a Chicago law firm, falls for his current assignment, Helena Nicholson, the beautiful heir of a Tech Sector venture capitalist who perished in a helicopter crash leaving her half a billion dollars, a Learjet 31, and unsavory suspicions about her father's death. As he investigates, the ex-Navy SEAL crosses swords with Helena’s step-brother, the Pentagon’s Highlands Forum, and an All-Star bad guy somebody has hired to stop him. When Griff finds himself on the wrong side of an arrest warrant he wonders: Is he a player or being played? 

Lawyers and Lovers and Guns…Oh, my!

Excerpt

The low, almost husky yet honey smooth female voice poured seductively over Griff and blanked his mind as he turned into the pilot’s lounge. Though dimly lit, as they all were to facilitate napping, her red dress glowed like a hearth, yet she still wore her sunglasses as she studied her iPhone’s screen, slouching and sitting askew in one of the La-Z-Boy recliners with her legs crossed. Griff’s eye was drawn to the slow but rhythmic bounce of her stiletto heel. Predator had become prey. She took off her Jackie Ohhs, looked Griff up and down, then took a deep breath.

“Mmmm…tall, dark and dangerous…just the way I like them.”

Griff locked onto her blue-gray eyes and surrendered. He leaned against the door jam. His inside voice taunted, No plan survives contact with the enemy.

“I couldn’t help but notice Lance’s Escalade on the ramp. He is a conniving bastard, isn’t he? Of course, he is a lawyer, but he does excel at it. Not to mention the unseemly delight he takes in it.”

“Always has,” Griff said. “As long as I’ve known him.”

“Then, you really shouldn’t be surprised.”

Griff smiled, realizing it wasn’t Mayor Daley’s fault that he was still on the ground in Chicago. “Name’s Griff.”

“Yes. I know.”

He waited, his face an implacable facade, one molded and hammered into place on the Coronado Beach while enduring BUD/S training. “You got a name? Or will you answer to minx or vixen?”

“Hmmm…you like the ‘X’ words. I prefer Helena.”

“So…how long will we be playing Three Card Monte with modern art…Helena?

About the Author

M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.

Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace and Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.

M.T. Bass Author Links

Website: https://www.mtbass.net

Blog: https://www.owl-works.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owlworks/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Owlworks

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/mtbass

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5270962.M_T_Bass

Article 15 Purchase Links

Author Web Site Info Page: https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/scribblings/article-15-griffith-crowe-1/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VRDWJ16

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/article-15-a-griffith-crowe-adventure/id1444570485?mt=11

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/article-15-mt-bass/1129939582?ean=2940155886839

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/article-15

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/908763

M.T. Bass will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Review Tuesday: Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls by Debra Hyde - #Lesbian #SherlockHolmes #ReviewTuesday

Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls cover

Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls by Debra Hyde

Riverdale Avenue Books, 2013

In 1880’s New York, a dead body dumped in a Chinatown alley, outside an opium den, is nothing unusual. This body, however, belongs to a popular western doctor who has been treating the impoverished Chinese population for years. Furthermore, the murder seems especially vicious – an ice pick impaled at the base of the skull.

Still, the police have little interest in the case; they’re happy to let the yellow-skinned inhabitants of the Asian ghetto deal with their own problems. So the exotic Miss Tam, who was secretly married to the victim, is forced to seek the help of unconventional detective Charlotte Olmes.

Charlotte is a brilliant renegade who accepts cases only from female clients. She’s ready to venture into the foulest corners of the city in order to ferret out the truth. Though cross-dressing is viewed as scandalous in the late nineteenth century, Charlotte has no compunctions about donning male clothing, even sporting a mustache. Her assistant, companion, and lover Joanna Wilson is less bold, at least in public. In private, though, Miss Wilson proves to be as daring as Charlotte herself.

Together with their dedicated, gender-flexible manservant, Charlotte and Joanna unravel the clues, track down the villain who killed Miss Tam’s husband and help bring him to justice. The victory is bittersweet as Miss Tam is forced to conform to the constraints of her gender and culture. Charlotte and Joanna, on the other hand, enjoy an enviable freedom.

Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls is the first book in Debra Hyde’s Charlotte Olmes mystery series. As suggested by her name, Charlotte is intended to be a female, lesbian version of Sherlock Holmes, with Joanna as her Dr. Watson. When I first heard about this series, I was very eager to sample it. I was first introduced to the Sherlock Holmes adventures in primary school, and I’ve been an avid fan ever since. Sherlock Holmes is one of those larger than life characters who invite riffs and spin-offs. Ms. Hyde’s premise seemed to hold great promise.

Unfortunately, Charlotte has little in common with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal detective. In this book, at least, she doesn’t really demonstrate any exceptional powers of observation or deduction. Of course, this might be a consequence of the fact that the “mystery” in this novella is rather light-weight and indeed quite easily solved.

Furthermore, she’s not nearly moody or irascible enough to be compared to Holmes. Indeed, both she and Joanna seem too young to carry the weight of the Sherlock Holmes mythos. A female Holmes, to be convincing, should be in her forties, weathered and a bit cynical.

In short, I was a bit disappointed by this book. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. The author does a fine job bringing 1880’s New York to life. She has captured the cadence of Victorian era English as well as the rough slang of the streets. I also liked the intense erotic interactions between Charlotte and Joanna, edged as they are with power exchange, although the sex scenes felt strangely isolated from the rest of the book. Charlotte and Joanna are lovers in the privacy of their home; elsewhere, they treat one another with rather unbelievable propriety.

I would have loved to see Joanna take Charlotte while they’re out on the streets gathering clues. I can imagine them in some seedy cul-de-sac, Joanna unbuttoning the fly of Charlotte’s trousers to slip her gloved hand inside. Or perhaps Charlotte would lay Joanna out on the chaise in some opium parlor in order to indulge in a different sort of drug... My imagination suggests endless lascivious possibilities.

Alas, none of these scenes appeared in this book of the series. I’ll admit to being somewhat curious about the others.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Who is Santiago Arista? #MMRomance #Pamplona #Mystery @Parr_books

Five things about Santiago Arista

1. Santiago Arista is not his real name.
2. He's unfailingly kind.
3. He's lived all over the world.
4. He restores frescoes in old and sacred buildings.
5. He has a stash of precious stones in the old chest where he also keeps his ancient weapons.

Who is he really?

Blurb

Aiden Flint goes on vacation with three friends to Pamplona, Spain. Seeking excitement, they will run with the bulls in the festival of St. Fermin. As the four friends enjoy the nightlife, they notice an attractive man watching Aiden in the bars they visit. In the warmth and heady atmosphere of the exotic city, Aiden takes a chance and approaches the handsome man.

Enigmatic Santiago Arista is sexy, kind, desperate for love, and achingly lonely. He’s just about given up on finding love, until one warm, summer night, sitting alone in a bar, he sees gorgeous Aiden. He’s elated when Aiden joins him at his table.

Deep attraction swirls between them. At the end of the night when they share a kiss, Aiden can’t believe the bliss that enfolds him, but have both men found someone to love just when fate is about to throw Aiden into mortal danger?

Read a teaser 18+

In a rush of need, Aiden pushed his hands inside Santiago’s t-shirt and moaned low as his palms contacted a hard, muscled chest. He ran his hands around Santiago’s body. The feel of Santiago’s skin beneath his fingertips drove him on. Aiden rammed his hips onto Santiago’s lower body, and the hard column of his erection met the shape of Santiago’s. Aiden murmured, pulling Santiago’s t-shirt up to take it off.

Santiago dragged it off before he helped Aiden take off his t-shirt. He clasped Aiden close with a soft, “Uh, this feels so good.”

Skin to skin and lips on lips, the resulting pleasure so intense it left him gasping, Aiden fought to breathe. The gentle breeze caressed his back, and slowly he remembered they stood on Santiago’s balcony. He held his lover’s shoulders and steered him into the living room, hardly breaking their kiss.

Santiago smiled onto his lips. He opened the jeans Aiden wore. “Now we’re out of public view, let’s get these off you.” He pushed them down Aiden’s thighs.

The brush of Santiago’s fingertips forced a groan from him. He took a step away and dragged off the jeans and boxers he wore, dropping them where he stood. His cock sprang free, thick and hard. Santiago’s gasp brought his head up. He moved rapidly to his lover. “You must have seen me naked yesterday but…”

Santiago stole the words from his mouth with a kiss as he grasped Aiden’s dick. He slid his fist along. “But not this, not…”

Aiden whispered onto Santiago’s mouth. “Not my cock huge, aching, and waiting for your touch.” He dragged the zipper of his lover’s chinos down, then grabbed the waistband, pulling them and Santiago’s underwear over his hard ass to halfway down his muscled thighs. He broke contact with Santiago’s lips and looked down to see his lover’s dick. A smile hovered as he took in the sight of Santiago’s erection, glistening at the slit with pre-cum.

“You’re so hot.” He swept his hands over Santiago’s skin in wide circles, drifted his fingertips along his lover’s flat stomach, and kissed him.

Santiago took Aiden’s hands from his body. “I need these clothes off.”

Aiden purposely watched Santiago take off his chinos, soaking up the delicious sight of his ass as he bent and the way his cock bobbed against his hard stomach. As soon as his lover’s pants hit the floor, Aiden crushed him close.