Welcome Brian Lancaster who's making his clubhouse debut today in support of The Missing Ingredient! Read an exclusive excerpt below and ICYMI see our 4.5 ❤️ review here.
Exclusive Excerpt:
ELEVEN thirty Wednesday night, Marcus lay on top of the thick cotton quilt in his hotel room in Birmingham, mulling over the lease signing meeting, which had gone so much better than expected. As usual, a lot of the negotiation points had been complicated, but since the opening of Shepherd’s Bush three years ago, he surprised himself at how much he now understood. Nevertheless, that kind of detail bored him—Marcus preferred to be holed up in the kitchen, playing with knives and fire and creating magic.
Just then his phoned beeped with a message.
U awake?
Tom. And just like that, he found himself smiling and his spirits lifting as his thumbs flashed eagerly across the keys.
Nope. Fast asleep. What’s up? Cant sleep. Keep thinking. About? Friday night and what I’m going to do to u.
Marcus gulped, even as his heart sped up. He still had trouble processing Tom’s feelings for him.
U still there? You’re killing me Tom. Killing isnt what I have in mind. Can I call you? You know you can. Anytime.
Seconds later the phone rang and Tom’s deep breathing came down the line. Before he could prepare himself, Marcus’s erection began stretching his sweatpants.
“Good evening, Thomas Bradford. To what do I owe the pleasure? You want me to count sheep with you?”
Tom’s deep laughter rumbled pleasantly down the phone. “You know something, Marcus? Just hearing your voice does it for me these days.”
Marcus smiled and his neck warmed. For all Tom’s past insensitive behavior, every now and then he had a way of stalling Marcus with his frank and honest sentiment. “And to think you were going to dump me.”
“Shit. We both know I was wrong.”
“Tossed out with the garbage.”
“Not going to let me forget that, are you?”
“Not on your life.”
Tom’s chuckle warmed Marcus to the core.
“By the way, Tom, don’t forget Katie has to take a cake tin to school tomorrow.”
“Shit. Where—?”
“I’ve put it in the cupboard beneath the sink. In the blue recycled shopping bag. Don’t worry, she’ll remind you in the morning. And Charlie has her piano lesson after school. But I’ve arranged for Moira—”
“Marcus—”
“—to pick her—what?”
“I’m losing my erection with all this baby talk.”
“You’ve got a hard-on?”
“Rock solid.”
“Fuck,” said Marcus before groaning softly into the phone and throwing himself into the pile of pillows along the headboard. “Now I wish I was there.”
“You are. Just keep talking. But please, no more cake tins or piano lessons.”
Sometimes it takes losing everything to realise what you had all along.
Up-and-coming London chef Marcus is poised on the edge of success, but apart from the occasional casual encounter, the only men who seem to stick around are investors. His best friend Lorraine Bradford—Raine—and her family used to keep him grounded, but a horrible accident took her life and left Marcus’s godchildren without a mother.
But if the death throws Marcus’s life into turmoil, it’s far worse for her husband, Tom—especially since she died in a car with a strange man. Tom is consumed by grief, and he shuns the help of friends. Until almost a year later, that is, when Marcus stumbles upon Tom out with his daughters and sees how far Tom has fallen. So he steps in and, bit by bit, helps them to rebuild their world until their lives return to a semblance of normality.
Then the unexpected happens: Tom confesses he has romantic feelings for Marcus, and nothing can ever be the same.
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Buy Links:
Amazon
Dreamspinner Press
Bio:
BRIAN LANCASTER is an author of gay romantic fiction in multiple genres, including contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, crime, mystery, and anything else his muse provides. Born in the sleepy South of England, the setting of many of his stories, he moved to Southeast Asia in 1998, where he shares a home with his longtime partner and two of the laziest cats on the planet.
Brian Lancaster once believed that writing gay romantic fiction would be easy and cathartic. He also believed in Santa Claus and the Jolly Green Giant. At least he still has fantasies about those two.
Born in the rural South of England in a town with its own clock tower and cricket pitch, he moved to Hong Kong in 1998. Life went from calm and curious to fast and furious. On the upside, the people he has since met provide inspiration for a whole new cast of characters in his stories. He also has his long-term, long-suffering partner and two cats to keep him grounded.
After winning two short story competitions in 2006 and being published in a compendium, he decided to dive into writing full- length novels. Diving proved to be easy; the challenge has been in treading water and trying to remain afloat. Cynical enough to be classed a curable romantic, he is not seeking an antidote. When not working or writing, he enjoys acting in community theater productions, composing music, hosting pub quizzes, and any socializing that involves Chardonnay. And for the record, he would like to remind all those self-righteous white wine drinkers that White Burgundy, Chablis, and Champagne are still essentially Chardonnays.
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