Truth & Tenderness
Page 20
“I love you, and I’m glad I married you,” Griffin murmured, wrapping his arms around Jim’s neck, resting against his shoulders. “And I’m also glad you and my sister are having our baby, which doesn’t sound weird at all.”
They shared a laugh.
Through the windows came the sounds of music and conversation, their families and friends mixing together.
“We have to say thank you and good night.” Sighing, Griffin curled up in Jim’s arms, thinking about how many apology calls he’d have to make if he just didn’t move.
“Yeah, we should do that,” Jim said, reaching for the champagne beside them. “Right after we drink this bottle.”
There was so much to celebrate—the wedding, the baby, their lives being settled in a way it had never been before. They were anchored now, with a home and a future they’d decided on. Everyone had been drinking the caterers dry for the past three hours, but this felt like something else.
Griffin shifted just enough so Jim could pop the cork with both hands.
“We don’t have glasses,” Griffin pointed out as the cork came free and Jim conveniently used his mouth to suck up the stream coming out. “Ah, never mind,” he added as Jim did rude things to the opening of the bottle.
“First toast,” Jim said, licking his lips. “To cheeky young men who strong-arm dates from cranky old cops.”
“That cupcake thing was pretty awesome.” Griffin preened as he took the bottle and drank.
“You sang me happy birthday,” Jim murmured. Even after all this time, the look on Jim’s face when he remembered that first night was pure bliss to Griffin.
“I never wanted to leave.”
“Technically you didn’t….”
They laughed and passed the bottle a few more times.
“Second toast,” Griffin said, taking control of what was left of the champagne. “To my hero, James Shea. The best person I’ve ever met in my life. Gorgeous and sexy and smart and amazingly brave. You make me a better human being, and I hope our Caroline turns out exactly like you in every respect. Except for the hair.”
Jim ran a defensive hand over his shorn hair, still holding on to its color; Griffin suspected gray was actually too frightened of Jim to grow in. “What’s wrong with my hair?”
“Baby with a buzz cut just doesn’t do it for me.” Griffin leaned down, grinding his hips slowly.
“Mmmm.” Jim took the bottle away—Griffin heard it clink against the floor—and returned both arms around Griffin’s middle. “Caroline should have your gorgeous hair,” Jim murmured, rubbing his warm hands against the length of Griffin’s back.
“Don’t talk sexy to me and say her name,” Griffin whispered, slotting his hips just enough to catch their straining erections against each other. “So stop saying her name and keep talking sexy.”
JIM OPENED his mouth, trailed his hands down to squeeze Griffin’s spectacularly tuxedoed ass. His husband (that would take some getting used to) flicked their tongues together and then gave him a lap dance that Jim was sure sparked out his brain.
Let those people keep laughing and dancing down there. The DJ was paid until ten, the champagne stock holding on….
He just wanted to stay here with the love of his life in his arms, in this room that symbolized everything about the beautiful future ahead.
Everything else could wait.
“I CAN’T believe no one has figured this out,” Evan murmured into Matt’s ear as they twirled around the dance floor.
Matt tightened his arms around Evan’s waist, slotting them close together in a way that bordered on dirty.
Evan didn’t care.
“Especially since they’re such nosy sons of bitches.”
They moved slowly, trading off who was leading like it was second nature. They were getting good at this, the give and take, letting instinct be their guide instead of thinking too hard.
Evan knew, in the quiet of the moment, that this was their real secret. How they made this work—made them work.
Trust.
Letting go.
“Stop thinking so loud. This is romantic,” Matt whispered, ending his words with a kiss against the curve of Evan’s ear.
It was romantic, cradled in Matt’s arms, the whirling dervish of the night settling around them.
“We could make an announcement,” he said, thinking of the kids’ excitement, Jim and Griffin’s support, Helena and Shane’s enthusiasm.
“Or we could keep it a secret like we agreed.” Matt moved his head just enough to give Evan a look.
“Fine.” Evan laid his head back on Matt’s shoulder. A secret just for them. Yes, that seemed right.
The DJ switched songs but not tempos: an old Motown song that invited more couples to the dance floor. Evan saw love in every stage—blushing teens to folks just grateful to have an intimate moment away from the kids to the smooth dancing moves of those who’d been doing this for decades.
This wasn’t the way his life was supposed to go, but this was exactly where he decided to be.
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Faith, Love, & Devotion:
Book One
Faith & Fidelity
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Reeling from the recent death of his wife, police officer Evan Cerelli looks at his four children and can only see how he fails them. His loving wife was the caretaker and nurturer, and now the single father feels himself being crushed by the pain of loss and the heavy responsibility of raising his kids.
At the urging of his partner, Evan celebrates a coworker’s retirement and meets disgraced former cop turned security consultant Matt Haight. A friendship born out of loneliness and the solace of the bottle turns out to be exactly what they both need.
The past year has been a slow death for Matt Haight. Ostracized from his beloved police force, facing middle age and perpetual loneliness, Matt sees only a black hole where his future should be. When he discovers another lost soul in Evan, some of the pieces he thought he lost start to fall back in place. Their friendship turns into something deeper, but love is the last thing either man expected, and both of them struggle to reconcile their new and overwhelming feelings for one another.
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Faith, Love, & Devotion:
Book Two
Love & Loyalty
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Seattle Homicide Detective Jim Shea never takes work home with him—until now. A judge banged his gavel, declared a defendant not guilty, and laid waste to a family. The emotional fallout of the trial leaves Jim vulnerable and duty-bound to the victim’s dying father.
It’s that man’s story that screenwriter Griffin Drake and his best friend, actress Daisy Baylor, see as their ticket out of action blockbusters and into more serious fare. But to get the juicy details, Griffin needs to win over the stoic and protective Detective Shea. Their attraction is immediate, and Daisy encourages Griffin to use it to their advantage: secure the man, secure the story. Neither man has had much luck when it comes to love, and when their one night together evolves into a long weekend of rapidly intensifying feelings, both Griffin’s fierce loyalty to Daisy and his very career is put to the test.
Because the more Griffin is drawn into a new life with Jim, the more his Hollywood life falls apart. Secrets and broken trust threaten Griffin’s relationships, and he’ll have to choose between telling the truth or writing a Hollywood ending.
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Faith, Love, & Devotion:
Book Three
Duty & Devotion
By Tere Michaels
A year after deciding to share their lives, Matt and Evan are working on their happily ever after—which isn’t as easy as it looks. As life settles down into a routine, Matt finds happiness in his role as the ideal househusband of Queens, New York, but he worries about Evan’s continued workaholic—and emotionally avoidant—ways. Trying to juggle his evolving relationship with Evan and his children, Matt turns to hi
s friend, former Seattle Homicide Detective Jim Shea.
The continued friendship between Matt and Jim is a thorn in Evan’s side. Jealous and uncomfortable with imagining their brief affair, Evan struggles to come to terms with what being in a committed relationship with a man means, and the implications about his love for his deceased wife, the impact on his children, and how other people will view him. His turmoil threatens his relationship with Matt, who worries that Evan will once again chose a life without him. But now, the stakes are much higher.
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Cherish
After several years of happy coupledom, Matt and Evan can relax in the knowledge that their little family has survived the worst of it. The two older girls are away at college, the twins have yet to fully hit teen angst, Matt is doing well with his part time security consulting, and Evan is about to be promoted to captain—it seems like things are calm and bright.
Until they aren’t.
As the holidays approach, Evan and Matt get a shock no parent is ever prepared for: feisty Miranda, Evan’s eldest, has a new boyfriend, Kent, and they are talking marriage after just three months together. In fact, Miranda wants to bring him to Thanksgiving dinner—along with his parents, Blake and Cornelia.
Blessed
Lives are in transition as everyone gathers at the stunning Hamptons beach home of Daisy and Bennett to celebrate the christening of their new baby. Griffin and Jim—secretly growing tired of their rootless lifestyle—are in a rocky spot in their relationship. And as the godfather, Griffin finds himself yearning for something he's sure Jim won't be interested in.
Fatherhood.
Matt and Evan are looking to reconnect during the long weekend, as their respective careers pull them in separate directions. With less time spent together, Evan grows concerned about what will happen when the last two kids leave the nest.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
About the Author
TERE MICHAELS unofficially began her writing career at the age of four when she learned that people got paid to write stories. It seemed the most perfect and logical job in the world and after that, her path was never in question.
(The romance writer part was written in the stars—she was born on Valentine’s Day.)
It took thirty-six years of “research” and “life experience” and well… life… before her first book was published, but there are no regrets (she doesn’t believe in them). Along the way, she had some interesting jobs in television, animation, arts education, PR, and a national magazine—but she never stopped believing she would eventually earn her living writing stories about love.
She is a member of RWA, Rainbow Romance Writers, and Liberty States Fiction Writers. Her home base is a small town in New Jersey, very near NYC, a city she dearly loves. She shares her life with her husband, her teenaged son—who will just not stop growing—and three exceedingly spoiled cats. Her spare time is spent watching way too much sports programming, going to the movies and for long walks/runs in the park, reading her book club’s current selection, and volunteering.
Nothing makes her happier than knowing she made a reader laugh or smile or cry. It’s the purpose of sharing her work with people. She loves hearing from fans and fellow writers, and is always available for speaking engagements, visits and workshops.
Find her at:
Website: http://www.teremichaels.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tere.michaels
Twitter: @TereMichaels
Also by this author and DREAMSPINNER PRESS
One Night Ever After
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Just a Drive
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After weeks of flirting, “One Night” Wyatt Walsh spends a fabulous night with his shy coworker, Benji Trammell. As Wyatt tries to sneak out the next morning, he receives a call from his frantic, very pregnant best friend Raven—she needs him immediately. With no other way to get from New York City to the Pennsylvania town where Raven and her husband live, Wyatt accepts Benji’s offer to drive him there. Wary and unsure of each other, they start the trip at odds, but as time goes on, the barriers that usually keep people at a distance fail. And what started out as “just a drive” becomes a step toward romance.
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Who Knows the Storm
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A mysterious letter addressed to Sam brings Nox in direct contact with “model” Cade Creel, a high-end prostitute working at the Iron Butterfly Casino. Suspicion gives way to an intense attraction as dark figures from Nox’s past and the mysterious peddlers of Dead Bolt begin to descend—and put all their lives in danger. When things spin out of control, Cade is the only person Nox can trust to help him save Sam.
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Table of Contents
Title page
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Epilogue
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About the Author
Also by this author and Dreamspinner Press