Road Trip, Volume 2

by BA Tortuga

  “You know it, redneck.” He rolled up, the move getting easier every fucking day, and landed in Sonny’s lap, the hammock swinging. “You go native pretty well too.”

  “I do. You do this way better than Mexican.” Sonny’s hand moved up and sank into his hair, strands sliding between the thick fingers.

  “Mmm. Tell you what, kiss me and I’ll tell you a story while we wait for the storm.”

  “I can get behind that.” Storytelling was something they still did, since that story Sonny had told him before the showdown had worked so well. That amazing mouth landed on his, Sonny tongue fucking his lips. Oral bastard.

  He dove into the kiss, legs wrapped around Sonny’s waist as they swayed. When Sonny pulled back, MJ was a little breathless, a little dizzy. “Damn. Almost as good as Ding Dongs. Good enough for a story.”

  “Yeah?” Sonny stroked his hair back off his forehead. “What kind of story? You gonna tell me about the whale boat? Maybe the time there was a logging shack?”

  “Mmm.” He grinned, nipped Sonny’s wrist. Those were good stories, but he had been holding one back for a while. “How about this one? It starts, there was this one time in Singapore….”

  Epilogue

  HE BALANCED his basket on his arm, laughing as he raced the yellow lab down the road, his bicycle wheels clicking happily underneath him. He had found brie and bread, bright red wine and the yellowest butter ever. And grapes.

  Red and black grapes.

  At the bottom of the basket there was a little bundle of mail and two more books for their collection.

  It was a good day.

  The dog bounded away from him suddenly, veering toward the beach. He could see it barking, but the sound was wrapped in cotton. This tiny thing.

  It made him laugh, and he followed, legs pumping faster, harder, as he tried to stay upright in the sand.

  The dog’s name was Doc, like “What’s up, Doc?” and it was barreling straight for a stick-thin man who wore the ugliest straw hat Paddy had ever seen. He loved Neil’s hats.

  “Neil!” He waved, almost overturning himself and their lunch.

  Neil turned from whatever he was doing on the shoreline, smiling and waving back. Neil had been sick for a bit; they both had. There had been some kind of explosion at the lab, something about a gas main….

  His lover was putting on weight again, though, and was smiling more.

  There was a little packet of pastry in the basket too, just to tempt his Neil at tea.

  He managed to stop the bike, leaning against Neil as he did, both of them laughing hard. “I found lunch! Cheese and bread and yummy grapes.”

  “Wonderful, sweet.” He was never sure if Neil was talking out loud or in his head. It didn’t matter. It was all the same. “We have oysters and olives, as well.”

  “Mmm. O foods. I approve. There were new books and mail, and that little cottage that they’ve been working on, they’re painting it purple! It’s so amazing. We should go walk and see it in the morning with Doc. We can share a coffee and a sweet.” He helped Neil spread the blanket out. Lunch was for beaches. Breakfast in town. Dinners were adventures.

  “Good idea. Doc, no.” Neil pushed the dog off the blanket. Paddy had always wanted a dog. He could remember that. Neil had named theirs, calling him Dunc and Doc alternately. “Hand me the mail while you lay out lunch?”

  He nodded, humming along as he did. The sun was beautiful, rich and warm, and he wiggled his toes as he…. “Oh! There’s sausage too. It’s dry and spicy.”

  “I like my sausage spicy.” Neil said it like a movie villain, twirling an imaginary mustache.

  They laughed again, and he slipped Doc a nibble of sausage. “Anything fun in the mail, love?”

  “Hmm?” Neil was looking at a postcard, his brows raised a bit. “Look, it’s from Nassau.”

  “Nassau? Neat.” He looked at the big fancy resort, the tiny handwriting on the back.

  “It has a wee poem, love. ‘Roses are red, the sea is blue, I’m happy here, I hope you are too.’ What a lovely sentiment.”

  “Uh-huh. It’s a pretty place, but I don’t think I’d want to visit there. This is a good place.” Home.

  Neil had found him, working too hard, too many hours in a lab, and had convinced him to run off, to find home together.

  It was heaven.

  “Bobby just likes to keep in touch. I told him once that I would rather not, really, but he’s somewhat stubborn.” When he looked up and raised a brow, Neil shrugged. “An old work acquaintance. You’d not remember him. He’s retired now.”

  Neil peered at the cheese he’d brought. “Sheep’s milk! How entertaining.”

  “Is that what it is? I couldn’t quite hear. It smells good, and the lady let me taste it on the bread.” He spread some on a little chunk, offered the piece for Neil to nibble.

  Neil took it, their fingers brushing, which always sent a little tingle of awareness through his arm. “Delightful.”

  Neil liked cheese. And pears. And oysters and some weird British candy called Flake.

  Paddy liked grapes and lemons and Neil.

  He liked being home.

  He thought they’d stay.

  More from BA Tortuga

  Road Trip Collection

  The road to love is notoriously bumpy, full of twists and turns that can throw even the best driver. With obstacles around every corner, Sonny and MJ try to keep it between the lines in two tales that blend steamy romance with high-stakes action and intrigue.

  Racing the Moon

  Sonny runs moonshine the old-fashioned way. Too bad some fool blew up his road in the Carolina mountains, keeping him stuck, high and unfortunately dry.

  Explosives expert and ecoterrorist MJ’s mission is to protect the environment by shutting down a logging company. An encounter with Sonny in the misty forest sheds a new light on his quest, but it’s not until Sonny drugs and kidnaps him for an impromptu holiday that their engines really start to rev.

  Steam and Sunshine

  A mission they can’t resist lures Sonny and MJ out of retirement when they get word of a man creating dangerous weapons for the government. They head to California to take him down.

  What they find is Paddy, a physicist who doesn’t understand the scope of his own discovery, and Neil, his bodyguard. During a wild and unpredictable cross-country ride, an uneasy partnership develops between kidnappers and targets when the four men discover they have a common enemy.

  Kasey “Tuff” Tuffman just told Nashville to kiss his you know what. After winning Best New Artist at an award show, he knows it’s time to head back home to Texas. So after a very public meltdown, Tuff makes his way to Austin, where the Red Dirt music lives large.

  Jonah Littlejohn once loved KT more than anything in the world. When KT loses it on national TV, Jonah knows he has to reach out and offer his home studio as a place to heal and make music. A bad relationship has left Jonah broken and wary of romance, but he wants to help his old lover out.

  Seeing Jonah again proves to Tuff that he’s made the right decision. Now all he has to do is convince Jonah that they’re the most perfect duet there’s ever been.

  Country hat act Markus Kane is skeptical when he’s asked to do a joint tour. He hasn’t seen Sebastian Longchamps since he gave up drinking—and since their compulsion for each other nearly cost them both their livelihoods. But Markus’s career is on the downhill slope, while the country-fried Cajun rocker’s star is still rising. His label thinks it’ll be a match made in ticket-sales heaven.

  Sebastian knows better. One wrong move and Markus will break his heart all over again. This time he has much more to lose.

  Time has changed both men, though, and while Markus and Sebastian try to fight their addictions, the big music industry machine has plans for them that don’t include a quiet retirement. Can Markus convince Sebastian that there are things in life more important than adrenaline and control? And can Sebastian make Markus understand that all he reall
y wants is his music and his man?

  Acclaimed musician Hollis Lee is a little bit rock, a little bit country, and a lot in need of some TLC to mend the years of hardcore partying that threatens to ruin his career. Hollis’s manager, Charlie, has the perfect solution in mind.

  Personal trainer Jeremy is even-keeled and nothing if not professional—which means doing his job, getting Hollis back to his fighting weight, and ignoring his fierce attraction to the rock star.

  Turns out Hollis has a harder time resisting Jeremy than giving up sausage biscuits and cheeseburgers, but succumbing to temptation could end both of their careers. While Hollis is on tour, no one questions Jeremy’s presence, and that means plenty of time to sneak away for some steamy fun on the tour bus. But when an accident separates them, how will they sustain the relationship that’s starting to mean so much?

  After a bar fight gone horribly wrong, Clint is on the run, tired, hungry, and desperate to get out of Texas and across the border as fast as he can. But more than anything, he needs a place to relax and feel safe—at least for a little while. Searching for work, he stumbles into a cantina on the beach and runs into its owner. Jack might be a little older and a little worldlier, but the two men have enough in common to form a fast friendship that soon spills over into the bedroom.

  But Clint isn’t the only who’s done things he isn’t proud of, things he’d rather keep hidden. Both of them have to be ready to drop everything and run if the past gets too close, and that’s no foundation for a relationship—especially since the truth always comes out eventually.

  Readers love Road Trip Vol. 1 by BA Tortuga

  “Road Trip Vol. 1 is an explosion of humor, danger, and just a whole lot of action, fighting and steamy scenes with MJ and Sonny.”

  —The Novel Approach

  “At the end of the day, this is pure sugar candy sticks brain candy bliss and I would read more in the series because they are perfect for simply escaping everything for a while. Book best served with a big bowl of popcorn.”

  —Gay Book Reviews

  “…quite fun and nostalgic, escapist reading.”

  —Jessie G Books

  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 BA Tortuga

  Best New Artist

  Bombs and Guacamole

  Boys in the Band (Author Anthology)

  Fighting Addiction

  Living in Fast Forward

  Mud, Movies, Bullets, and Bulls (Author Anthology)

  Old Town New

  Private Dances

  Rainbow Rodeo

  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

  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.

  Road Trip Vol. 2

  © 2018 BA Tortuga.

  Cover Art

  © 2018 Alexandria Corza.

  http://www.seeingstatic.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: 978-1-64080-146-2

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64080-145-5

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017902298

  Digital published February 2018

  v. 2.0

  First Edition of Under Pressure published by TOP SHELF: An imprint of Torquere Press Publishers, March 2009.

  First Edition of Walking on the Sun published by TOP SHELF: An imprint of Torquere Press Publishers, September 2010.

  Printed in the United States of America