Things that Go Bump in the Night
Page 35
Country hat act Markus Kane is skeptical when he’s asked to do a joint tour. He hasn’t seen Sebastian Longchamps since he gave up drinking—and since their compulsion for each other nearly cost them both their livelihoods. But Markus’s career is on the downhill slope, while the country-fried Cajun rocker’s star is still rising. His label thinks it’ll be a match made in ticket-sales heaven.
Sebastian knows better. One wrong move and Markus will break his heart all over again. This time he has much more to lose.
Time has changed both men, though, and while Markus and Sebastian try to fight their addictions, the big music industry machine has plans for them that don’t include a quiet retirement. Can Markus convince Sebastian that there are things in life more important than adrenaline and control? And can Sebastian make Markus understand that all he really wants is his music and his man?
Being a hard-core rodeo cowboy means getting by with little money and less of a future. But for two hardscrabble rodeo riders, that might change….
Dean’s been around the rodeo circuit long enough to know when a new kid is down on his luck. Giving young Will a ride to the next event is just the neighborly thing to do, passing on some of the kindness strangers have shown him over the years. Who’d expect Will to be such good company? So good in fact, that Dean figures he might just keep Will around—especially since Will feels the same.
Traveling from rodeo to rodeo, enjoying all the fringe benefits they can, is a dream come true for Dean and Will. Troubles with Dean’s family and Will’s stubborn pride separate them for a while, but they always come back together when the chips are down. These two cowboys are a match made in heaven—now they just need to convince everyone else to let them live the life they love and find their future together.
Acclaimed musician Hollis Lee is a little bit rock, a little bit country, and a lot in need of some TLC to mend the years of hardcore partying that threatens to ruin his career. Hollis’s manager, Charlie, has the perfect solution in mind.
Personal trainer Jeremy is even-keeled and nothing if not professional—which means doing his job, getting Hollis back to his fighting weight, and ignoring his fierce attraction to the rock star.
Turns out Hollis has a harder time resisting Jeremy than giving up sausage biscuits and cheeseburgers, but succumbing to temptation could end both of their careers. While Hollis is on tour, no one questions Jeremy’s presence, and that means plenty of time to sneak away for some steamy fun on the tour bus. But when an accident separates them, how will they sustain the relationship that’s starting to mean so much?
A Collection of Cowboy Love
Cowboys, blue-collar men, and hot redneck boys. One thing they all have in common is Wranglers, and they’re all falling in love in this eight-story collection. From Navy SEALs to rodeo riders to a food truck chef, all these men want is to find someone to share their lives with.
There are new lovers meeting for the first time, best friends who find out they have someone who loves them already when they think they’ll never find happiness, and old lovers who’ve been apart for years but come back together at the best possible time. From the ski mountains of Colorado to deep in the heart of Texas, love finds a way through old hurts and through years of being apart.
There’s nothing like a man in Wranglers and cowboy boots, and these stories prove it in every line!
Stories include:
Hey, Jealousy
Czech Me Out: An Austin Story
Worth the Work
Purgatory
Menagerie
Where There’s a Will
Cut Bait
Unwrapped
Readers love BA Tortuga
Rough in Wranglers
“What a collection! …if you’re a fan of love coming in unexpected packages, then I recommend you go and buy this book.”
—Rainbow Book Reviews
“With friends to lovers, established relationships, second chances and the blush of new love (and lust), this book has something for everyone and made for some pretty darn good reading.”
—Love Bytes
Cowboy in the Crosshairs
“BA Tortuga has crafted a really good cowboy mystery. The suspense has a gradual build up, and the guilty party wasn’t easy to discover.”
—The Novel Approach
“A great easy read, as usual from Tortuga!”
—Divine Magazine
Fighting Addiction
“I loved the story, the fight for each other and for their music, all the cast of characters…”
—Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
BA TORTUGA, Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, spends her days with her basset hounds, getting tattooed, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting, and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.
Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has heard the call of the high desert and lives in the Sandias. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery ménages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeonholed by anyone but the voices in her head.
Website: www.batortuga.com
Blog: batortuga.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/batortuga
Twitter: @batortuga
By BA Tortuga
Best New Artist
Bombs and Guacamole
Boys in the Band (Author Anthology)
Fighting Addiction
Latigo
Living in Fast Forward
Mud, Movies, Bullets, and Bulls (Author Anthology)
Old Town New
Private Dances
Rainbow Rodeo
Rough in Wranglers (Author Anthology)
Say Something
Seashores of Old Mexico
Things that Go Bump in the Night (Author Anthology)
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
#6 – Trial by Fire
#30 – Two Cowboys and a Baby
#65 – Two of a Kind
LEANING N
#16 – Commitment Ranch
#42 – Finding Mr. Wright
TURQUOISE, NEW MEXICO
#53 – Cowboy in the Crosshairs
LOVE IS BLIND
Ever the Same
Real World
RECOVERY
Refired
Slip
THE RELEASE SERIES
The Terms of Release
The Articles of Release
Catch and Release
ROAD TRIP
Road Trip Vol. 1
Road Trip Vol. 2
SANCTUARY
Just Like Cats and Dogs
What the Cat Dragged In
STORMY WEATHER
Rain and Whiskey
Tropical Depression
Hurricane
With Jodi Payne
Heart of a Redneck
COLLABORATIONS
Refraction
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Things that Go Bump in the Night
© 2018 BA Tortuga.
Cover Art
© 2018 Alexandria Corza.
http://www.seeingstatic.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on
the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-238-4
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64080-237-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018931588
Digital published July 2018
v. 1.0
First Edition of Guapo published by Torquere Press, Inc., March, 2009.
First Edition of Bad for Business published by Torquere Press, Inc., September, 2009.
First Edition of Home Fires published in The Call by Torquere Press, Inc., 2007.
First Edition of Instinctive Harmony published by Torquere Press, Inc., October 2005. Second Edition published by Torquere Press, Inc., October 2007.
First Edition of Pinyon published by Torquere Press, Inc., October, 2011.
First Edition of Ring My Bell published by Torquere Press, Inc., December 2007. Second Edition published by Torquere Press, Inc., May 2010.
First Edition of The Mind’s Eye published by Torquere Press, Inc., September 2011.
First Edition of Cats in a China Shop published by Torquere Press, Inc., April 2014.
Printed in the United States of America