Love You So Hard

by Tara Lain

  Alan leaned over and touched Ben’s cheek—not a gesture he did often, but one Ben loved. Then he pressed his slightly cool, perfectly carved lips to Ben’s. When he pulled back, he smiled. “I’m sorry I was such a shit on the phone. Bad day, and I took it out on everyone. I couldn’t wait to see you. Highlight of my day.”

  Well, damn. That was another reminder of why he’d been entranced with Alan to begin with. Charm, sweetness, and all that beauty didn’t count for nothing. “I’m happy to see you too. It’s been a long day.”

  Alan pulled away from the curb, some soft rock playing on the sound system. They drove in silence toward the ocean. After a few not totally relaxed minutes, Alan turned down the sound. “I know you love to work, dear, but I hope once we’re married you’ll let yourself slow down a little.” He glanced over and smiled. He must have seen the stiffening in Ben’s face, because he said, “Remember, you’ll be an Ashland. The family’s going to need your skills in so many ways. You’ll be just as busy, but with different things. More fun things.”

  Ben smiled and gazed out the window. Why can nobody get that my work is fun?

  “My folks are so excited about the party.” Alan turned into the superexclusive Newport Beach gated community where one of his family homes stared down over the ocean from the cliffs above.

  At least on that subject, they could agree. “Mine too. They haven’t talked about much else for weeks.”

  Alan laughed. “My mom’s like a kid getting ready for the damned prom.”

  Ben chuckled—to cover the odd churning in his stomach.

  Alan drove up the street, the too-close-together mansions on the right and the vast darkness of the Pacific on their left, toward the big house with a gazillion lights shining. Cars lined the street, crawling toward valets parking people’s expensive vehicles, since even the rich neighborhoods in this area didn’t have enough room for more than a few cars.

  Alan gave a discreet honk, and one of the valets waved and ran to the gates blocking the driveway. A moment later the gates parted, and Alan managed to maneuver past the cars to turn into the driveway of his parents’ home. Alan’s home, truthfully. Alan had his own condo in Crystal Cove, but as his parents got older, he spent more and more time living in his suite in the family home. Though just thirty-three, Alan was an only child, and therefore the sole inheritor of a vast fortune. Ben’s family were comfortable thanks to a buttload of hard work, but the kind of money his father had earned paled next to Alan’s—a huge, rolling juggernaut of dollars flowing from oil, real estate, and many other self-generating assets.

  After turning left in front of the house, Alan ferried the rumbling machine back to the huge garage behind the house and parked in front of it, then turned to Ben. “Showtime.”

  “Yes, I guess it is.” He smiled.

  “In case I forgot to say it, you look lovely tonight.”

  “Thank you. You too.” So true. Alan wore a deep blue suit that showed off his fair hair and brilliant eyes perfectly. In deference to California casual, he wore no tie. Likewise, Ben’s open-necked white shirt he’d worn all day might be a tad more wilted than Alan’s but still passed as party-ready with his favorite gray suit. Alan always said it complemented Ben’s auburn hair and green eyes.

  Alan leaned forward and kissed Ben gently. “That’s on account. I’ll take you home with me after the party, and then you won’t need your car tonight. I can just take you to work in the morning.”

  Ben bit his tongue. He hated staying at Alan’s on work nights. It got him to the office so late. “Sure. Sounds great.”

  “Plus we’re a little behind on the roll-in-the-hay quotient, so maybe we can make it up. Sound good?”

  He managed to nod his head with a smile.

  Alan climbed out of the car and rounded the front to open Ben’s door. He insisted on the gesture, although it made Ben feel a little like a 1950s prom queen from Alabama. Hell, lots of guys would kill for the courtesy. One more thing that made him feel ungrateful.

  With an extended hand, Alan helped him out of the car. The fact that Ben at nearly six three stood four inches taller than Alan likely made the operation look a little silly, but, of course, that might be why Alan did it. He closed the door behind Ben and slid an arm around his waist. “You’re not nervous about this hoopla, are you?”

  Ben frowned a little. “No. Should I be?”

  “Not at all. It’s just Daddy’s invited all his important investors, so he’s all over me like diamonds on a debutante to make a good impression.”

  “But no pressure?” Ben gave him a half smile.

  “Right.” Alan laughed and led Ben to the back door of the house. “Let’s sneak in so we can avoid the big meeting-at-the-door scene.”

  “I’m for that.”

  The crowd at the front door couldn’t be much thicker than the one at the back, but this group was made up of caterers, waiters, bartenders, and one semihysterical coordinator hollering, “What do you mean, the shrimp are still frozen?”

  Alan snorted and pulled Ben through the crush to the swinging door that led to the formal dining room. He flashed his teeth at Ben. “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be in this life.” For a second Alan gave him an odd look, then threw open the door and stepped through, propelling Ben next to him.

  More from Tara Lain

  The First Cowboys Don’t Story

  Rand McIntyre settles for good enough. He loves his small California ranch, raising horses, and teaching riding to the kids he adores—but having kids of his own and someone to love means coming out, and that would jeopardize everything he’s built. Then, despite his terror of flying, he goes on a holiday to Hana, Hawaii, with his parents and meets the dark and mysterious Kai Kealoha, a genuine Hawaiian cowboy. Rand takes to Kai’s kid brother and sister as much as he drools over Kai, but the guy sports more prickles than a horned toad and more secrets than the exotic land he comes from.

  Kai’s earned his privacy and lives to protect his “kids.” He ought to stay away from the big, handsome cowboy for everyone’s sake—but since the guy’s just a haole on a short vacation, how much damage can he do? When all of Kai’s worst fears and Rand’s darkest nightmares come true at once, there’s not much chance for two cowboys who can’t—or won’t—come out.

  Luca McGrath may be returning to Napa Valley, California, as a promising chef with dreams of starting his own restaurant and winery, but his heart still lives with the bad-boy son of a billionaire, James Armstrong. Luca spent his childhood playing games with the golden boy of California society, so blinded by James he barely noticed the dark, quiet lure of his conservative older brother, Dylan Armstrong.

  But now Luca’s home, and his own powers of attraction are enough to make James question his dedicated heterosexuality and his promised marriage to a wealthy and powerful businesswoman. The obvious attraction between Luca and James spurs Dylan into action—but he’s fighting a huge secret. While Luca dreamed of James, Dylan dreamed of Luca. When Luca gets caught in the struggle between the brothers and gets accused of culinary espionage he’s ready to chuck the fairy tale—unable to even imagine Dylan’s power to make his dreams come true.

  An Aloysius Tale

  When Killian Barth, history professor, meets Blaine Genneau, quantum physicist, they ignite their own big bang. But Killian can’t pursue a physics professor—or a human. As the most powerful male witch in ten generations, Killian must bolster his dying race by reproducing—despite the fact that he’s gay.

  Even a fling with Blaine is out of the question, because Killian has been told sex with humans drains his power. But if that’s true, why can young human Jimmy Janx dissolve spoons with the power of his mind? If Killian can sort through the lies he’s been fed, he’ll still face his biggest obstacle—convincing rational scientist Blaine to believe in magic.

  With his ancient and powerful cat familiar, Aloysius, on his shoulder, Killian brings the lightning against deceit and greed to save Blaine from dang
er and prove love is the greatest power of them all.

  He’ll marry the maid to get $50 million but a secret could queer the deal.

  Taylor Fitzgerald needs a last-minute bride.

  On the eve of his twenty-fifth birthday, the billionaire’s son discovers that despite being gay, he must marry a woman before midnight or lose a fifty-million-dollar inheritance. So he hightails it to Las Vegas… where he meets the beautiful maid Ally May.

  There’s just one rather significant problem: Ally is actually Alessandro Macias, son of a tough Brazilian hotel magnate. But if Ally keeps pretending to be a girl for a little while longer, is there a chance they might discover this marriage is tailor-made?

  A Balls to the Wall Romance

  A “pumped up” version of the Volley Balls story, twice as long as the original.

  A double dose of alpha male might be better than one.

  Despite just getting out of an abusive relationship with an asshole alpha, David Underwood’s wandering glance lands on two hot members of the Australian volleyball team on Laguna Beach and gets him harassed again. Still, when the delicious Gareth Marshall proves his interest by coming out to his team, David succumbs to his attraction. But Gareth’s volleyball partner, Edge, who’s equally hot, makes the lovers’ lives miserable.

  For Gareth, a lifetime of hiding his orientation—and his attraction—from his best friend, Edge, as well as everyone else around him, adds up to hurt and frustration. David’s the first man to ever compete with Edge for Gareth’s passion. But Edge has secrets of his own, and David’s ex-lover will never be happy without David under his fist. With everything stacked against him, can a gay Laguna man find happiness with an alpha male–or two?

  TARA LAIN writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Erotic Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and more. Readers often call her books “sweet,” even with all that hawt sex, because Tara believes in love and her books deliver on happily-ever-after. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. Her love of creating book titles comes from years of manifesting ad headlines for everything from analytical instruments to semiconductors. She does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soulmate husband and her soulmate dog (who’s a little jealous of all those cat pictures Tara posts on FB) in Laguna Niguel, California, near the seaside towns where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says that on her tombstone, it will say “Yes!”

  Email: tara@taralain.com

  Website: www.taralain.com

  Blog: www.taralain.com/blog

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  By Tara Lain

  Hearts and Flour

  Return of the Chauffeur’s Son

  ALOYSIUS TALES

  Spell Cat

  Brush with Catastrophe

  Cataclysmic Shift

  BALLS TO THE WALL

  Volley Balls

  Fire Balls

  Beach Balls

  FAST Balls

  High Balls

  Snow Balls

  Bleu Balls

  COWBOYS DON’T

  Cowboys Don’t Come Out

  Cowboys Don’t Ride Unicorns

  DREAMSPUN BEYOND

  #15 – Rome and Jules

  DREAMSPUN DESIRES

  #5 – Taylor Maid

  LONG PASS CHRONICLES

  Outing the Quarterback

  Canning the Center

  Tackling the Tight End

  LOVE IN LAGUNA

  Knight of Ocean Avenue

  Knave of Broken Hearts

  Prince of the Playhouse

  Lord of a Thousand Steps

  Fool of Main Beach

  LOVE YOU SO

  Love You So Hard

  MIDDLEMARK MYSTERIES

  The Case of the Sexy Shakespearean

  PENNYMAKER TALES

  Sinders and Ash

  Driven Snow

  Beauty, Inc.

  Never

  TALES OF THE HARKER PACK

  The Pack or the Panther

  Wolf in Gucci Loafers

  Winter’s Wolf

  PRINT ANTHOLOGIES

  Balls to the Wall – Volley Balls and Fire Balls

  Balls to the Wall – Beach Balls and FAST Balls

  The Pack or the Panther &Wolf in Gucci Loafers

  Sinders and Ash and Beauty, Inc.

  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.

  Love You So Hard

  © 2018 Tara Lain.

  Cover Art

  © 2018 Reese Dante.

  http://www.reesedante.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: 978-1-64080-465-4

  Digital eBook published April 2018

  v. 3.0

  First Edition published by Love Has No Boundaries, June 2013.

  Second Edition published by Tara Lain, October 2013.

  Printed in the United States of America