by BA Tortuga
“Mmm. The pool. The stars. You and me and hours of naked.” Tucker loved it here—the energy soaked into him like a drug, but home was home, and he needed that too, the wide-open sky, the heat, Granny’s house.
“Oh. Hang on.” Calvin pulled a phone out and read a text, smiling. “Timmy wants to know if I’m coming home tonight. He’s joking of course, but I think he’s lonely now that we’ve got our own place. Would it be weird to have him over this weekend? Maybe watch a movie or something?”
“You know he’s welcome, honey.” They’d hammered their shit out. He hadn’t even had to hit the guy.
“Really? Thank you.” Calvin texted, presumably Timmy, and put the phone away. “So, my handsome cowboy in that very sexy hat, wine and a tour?”
“Wine. A tour. A kiss? Please?” He let himself work the hat, knowing how that tripped Calvin’s trigger.
“Yes.” Calvin ducked under the brim of his hat, platform shoes giving his lover a couple of extra inches, and fingers tugged gently on the lapel of his jacket. “A kiss.”
“Yeah, honey. Thank you.” He took his kiss, sinking into it, pouring himself into Calvin with all he was.
“Mmm.” Calvin lingered in the kiss, giving him everything back and a soft smile to go with it. “We got this.”
“We do. Come see the angels. Come see how they’ve hung, the light.” They were all Calvin. Every single one.
Every single one.
“The light is fantastic. They look so different. Brighter, maybe? The reds are more… they look great. It’s a powerful series, Tucker. It really is.”
“It is. It’s good.” Sensual, sexual—dripping with his own need.
“Where’d you hang the big one?” Calvin was fascinated with that one, he knew. It was nearly life-size, the central angel made up of several smaller ones, each with different attributes. “Show me?”
He drew Calvin to the back wall, to the one that wasn’t for sale, the one that would come home to a place of honor. The painting hung all alone, the image stealing his breath. It had taken him days. Days of pouring out his joy.
The Pandora’s box was sitting on a column, the Not for Sale sign propped against it. Tucker let him put something in the box for every show. Whatever he chose. They never let anyone else see.
“Oh, tiger. It’s wonderful under all this light, isn’t it? Just stunning.” Calvin put an arm around his waist and gave him a knowing smile. “Thank you.”
“I love you, honey.” His eyes went to the image in the base of the painting, a little cloud of gray with the light piercing it. The original lived with them, traveled with them, made its home with them.
“I love you too.” Calvin stared at the painting another minute or so, then looked at him. There was all kinds of mischief in those eyes. “Take me dancing, cowboy?”
“We could sneak out the back. No one would know.”
Calvin nodded and took his hand. “Marge will forgive us.”
“Marge expects it. Take me to play, honey. I’m ready.”
The angels were done. It was time for them to move on. They slipped out the back door, hand in hand.
His own personal demon looked over at him, eyes glittering in the streetlights. “Come on, Tucker. Time to go.”
JODI PAYNE spent too many years in New York and San Francisco stage-managing classical plays, edgy fringe work, and the occasional musical. She therefore is overdramatic, takes herself way too seriously, and has been known to randomly break out in song. Her men are imperfect but genuine, stubborn but likeable, often kinky, and frequently their own worst enemies. They are characters you can’t help but fall in love with while they stumble along the path to their happily ever after.
For those looking to get on her good side, Jodi’s addictions include nonfat lattes, Malbec, and tequila however you pour it. She’s also obsessed with Shakespeare and Broadway musicals. She can be found wearing sock monkey gloves while typing when it’s cold, and on the beach enjoying the sun and the ocean when it’s hot. When she’s not writing and/or vacuuming sand out of her laptop, Jodi mentors queer youth and will drop everything for live music. Jodi lives near New York City with her beautiful wife, and together they are mothers of dragons (cleverly disguised as children) and slaves to an enormous polydactyl cat.
Website: www.jodipayne.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/payne.jodi
FB Author Group: www.facebook.com/groups/jodisgents
Twitter: @JodiPayne
Instagram: @jodipayne1800
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 Jodi Payne
Creative Process
With BA Tortuga
COLLABORATIONS
Refraction
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
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
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
#6 – Trial by Fire
#30 – Two Cowboys and a Baby
#53 – Cowboy in the Crosshairs
LEANING N
#16 – Commitment Ranch
#42 – Finding Mr. Wright
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
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.
Refraction
© 2018 Jodi Payne and BA Tortuga.
Cover Art
© 2018 Aaron Anderson.
[email protected]
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: 978-1-64080-488-3
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64080-489-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934245
Digital published June 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America