Today is my Christmas Release with MLR PRESS!!
TOGETHER is a menage that didn't start out with the intent of being a menage. The story begins with a friend of Isaac's past showing up on his doorstep on a late and freezing night. Shawn is doing his best to distance himself from some pretty bad going-ons at home and just needed a place to lick his wounds. What neither expected was to feel attraction for each other.
Then ... Da Da Da!!! Enter Quinn. Okay, he's a cute, kind of goofy, twenty-something who melts for Isaac, except... Isaac is with Shawn. *Hands begin doing aircraft guiding signals to keep it all straight*
So if Isaac is with Shawn and Shawn is with Isaac, how does Quinn fit in?
Very nicely, by the end. LOL
Now, how did I end up writing this? Oh, that's a headbanger. There I was (use your imagination, this was June sometime), sitting all nice and quiet-like in the back of the classroom, when Laura--she's the head Mama at MLR--pops online and asks "Who'd like to do a Christmas story?"
Of course, me being the gogetter that I am (really it was a case of leaping in before reading the warnings) I raised my hand and shouted "Me! I'll do one!" all the way from the very back of the classroom. Just so I'd be heard of course.
So needless to say, I was committed. (Or just committable. That's always up for debate.) We had a deadline. (Oh crap!) Luckily, I made it with room to spare. I don't deal with deadlines well. I never know how the story will develop or if one of the characters will take a side vacation to Tahiti, leaving me and my muse high and dry until they get back. So, Moi + deadlines = bad idea.
But thankfully, TOGETHER came out no worse for wear, and the guys were all happy. (That's a Whew! on my scorecard, tyvm.)
Let me share a little bit of my Christmas release with you and your readers:
| Title: |
Together Holiday 2011 Release #28 |
| Author | Diana DeRicci |
| ISBN# | 978-1-60820-502-8 (ebook) $5.99 |
| Release Date | December 2011 |
| Cover Artist | Deana C. Jamroz |
Blurb:
Isaac arrived home not expecting to find anything but his warm bed waiting for him in the dead of winter. A nearly frozen friend from his past brought with him a bad break-up, old memories best left forgotten and one particular problem he hadn't anticipated. An attraction that he just wasn't ready for. Not when faced with his friend's worst problems, it became a priority to help Shawn heal.
Shawn didn't know where to go when everything he'd been fighting
for fell apart. Isaac was safe, far away from the worst reminders and
lastly, the only person he could really trust. Shawn once had a crush on
Isaac, but it was years ago before Isaac had left LA. A strong
friendship had matured through the years since then, giving Shawn the
strength to search for him now when he needed a friend.
Just when Isaac and Shawn are reaching a comfortable ground, challenges to their future bring decisions neither would have anticipated. Is Shawn still able to bend after a horrible break-up? Can Isaac trust after already being wounded by a previous lover?
Will either be able to accept that they could be stronger as three when they meet Quinn?
One thing they will learn is all things are possible together.
Excerpt:
Pulling
in front of his apartment Isaac didn’t see the movement of the person
in the shadows by his door until he was out of his car. He squinted in
the bad light, discerning the form quickly. “Shawn?” What on earth was
he doing there?
“Thank
God,” he whimpered. Shawn bounced from foot to foot. “Can I come in?
It’s freaking cold out here.” He wrapped his arms around his body
bringing his shoulders in, bouncing from foot to foot.
“No
shit. Where’s your jacket?” The sweater he wore wasn’t nearly enough to
battle the chill snaps of wind blasting around the apartments. He
inserted the key and opened his apartment door, herding Shawn through
first.
Isaac
took his jacket off to wrap over Shawn, then led him to the couch. “Let
me make you something hot, then you can tell me what happened.” Shawn’s
teeth chattered and clacked as he nodded in answer.
The
best Isaac could do was coffee, even at that late hour. Glancing toward
the man on his couch, Shawn rocked with cold, shivering, to dig into
Isaac’s jacket as if he wanted to crawl into it and its lingering
warmth. Shawn’s ears and nose were bright red. It didn’t really matter
how long he’d been there waiting, it had been long enough to cause
himself harm.
Isaac
wondered what had happened, and knew Shawn would fill him in as much as
he could. Shawn was a friend of Jasen’s, Isaac’s ex. Isaac and Shawn
had always got along fine, and had stayed in contact even after the
split. He wondered why he was here instead of finding friends closer to
home.
Carrying
the mug to Shawn, he sat next to him on the couch. It was a wonder the
man didn’t have icicles hanging off him. At least his shakes were
slowing down. “Take slow sips until you begin to warm up,” he cautioned.
Shawn only nodded, his eyes closing in bliss as he took the first
drink. He didn’t even complain that it was straight black.
“I’m
sorry for just showing up, Isaac,” he said, curled up tight beneath the
jacket, bent over the coffee mug like he was guarding it. “I left Tam.”
Out of all the possibilities, that was the last he would have expected to hear. “What? Why?”
Shawn sipped again, blinking and taking slow breaths. “He’s doing drugs again.”
“Shit,
Shawn, I’m sorry.” Isaac thought Tam got that out of his system after
his stay in rehab. He was really sorry to hear that wasn’t the case.
Knowing Shawn had been dealing with this made Isaac want to curl him
against his chest and protect and comfort the other man.
Shawn
shook his head, his lips pressed together firmly. “Don’t be. This time I
followed him. I have proof, pictures on my cell.” Shawn stared between
his hands, nowhere else. “I sent the information to his probation
officer. I…” He swallowed, a hard dry sound. “He’s in jail now. I was
gone before I even made that call.”
“Wow, Shawn.” That took guts. “Wait. How’d you get here from LA?”
“I
had enough money on me for a bus. I need to go to the bank and clear all
that up tomorrow. Make sure he’s off the account. I don’t care about
the apartment. It was in his name, his stuff.”
“Damn, Shawn.”
“Isaac,”
he croaked. He sipped at his coffee, determined to stay in control.
“Can I stay here? I don’t have any place to go.” He ran a quivering hand
beneath his nose.
“Of course you can,” he answered while rubbing circles over his back trying to calm the shakes out of Shawn.
Finally Shawn’s hunched shoulders relaxed, the weight of the world dragging him down, evaporating.
“Thanks.”
Silence filled the apartment between them. “Jasen was a dick to you,
Isaac,” he said softly. “I was sorry to see you leave LA.” He looked
over his shoulder at a quiet Isaac. “I know John and Blake didn’t even
think about it. They have their own world, but I missed you. You were a
good friend.”
Seeing
Shawn was close to exhausted tears, he replied, “Hey. We still are
friends. You needed me. I’m here. Never doubt that.” He shook his
shoulder lightly. “Tomorrow, things will look better. You won’t be
freezing your nuts off for one.”
Diana has been writing full time sine 2004, with her first book published in 2006. She's been writing M/M for two years and has found a full-blown love for the male psyche. All her works can be found on her websites.
www.dianacastilleja.com (Mainstream and paranormal)
www.dianadericci.com (Erotic and Male/Male, and other works)
She lives in central Texas with her husband, son and one small, spunky chihuahua with a size complex.
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