Hello, everyone! I’m the McKay half of Ari McKay, and I’d like to thank The Novel Approach for hosting us on our blog tour to launch our new book, Fortune’s Slings and Cupid’s Arrows. It’s the second book in our Lawyers in Love trilogy, and while characters from the first book – Santa’s Naughty Helper – make an appearance, each book in the trilogy is a stand-alone romance.
For this stop of the tour, I’d like to share an exclusive excerpt. I hope you all enjoy!
About the Book
Series: Lawyers in Love
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (2nd Edition)
Length: 82 Pages
Category: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Buy the Book: Dreamspinner Press || Amazon || Barnes & Noble || iBooks || Kobo
Blurb: Successful attorneys Dane Coulter and Cal Monroe are rivals in the courtroom and friends behind the scenes. But can they be more?
Cal’s always carried a torch for Dane, but Dane is so deep in the closet, he can’t even admit that he might be gay. His father, a raging homophobe who rules the family with an iron fist, forces Dane into an engagement—to a woman. Dane goes along with it to keep the peace and protect his mother, but for Cal, it’s the last straw.
He can’t let Dane make a mistake that could ruin the rest of his life, and he only knows one surefire way to make Dane admit what’s in his heart. But confessing his feelings to his friend could backfire, driving a wedge between them. And even then, the choice must be Dane’s—to live the life his father wants, or to give up everything he has for a chance at happiness in Cal’s arms.
Second Edition: First Edition published by Torquere Press, February 2013.
The Excerpt
Dane’s heart lurched with something he didn’t dare let himself feel: hope. If he broke the engagement with Portia to be with a man, Randolph would make his life miserable. If he broke the engagement to be with Cal, Randolph would make his life pure hell.
“Things aren’t that simple, and you know it,” he said, drawing back from Cal. “I can’t fight him. I don’t even know how. All my life I’ve tried to be the good son he wanted and to make as few waves as possible so he’d be happy.”
“Even though it makes you miserable? Why does his happiness matter so much more than your own? He doesn’t see you as a separate person, just an extension of himself. He doesn’t care if you’re happy so long as you toe his line.” Cal paused and drew in a deep breath, his green gaze warm and tender. “He doesn’t love you, Dane. But I do.”
Dane gaped at Cal, stunned by the confession. He’d thought Cal saw him as nothing more than a friend, which had helped keep his own burgeoning feelings for Cal at bay. But now he was being offered what he wanted most, and he didn’t know what to do.
“I had no idea,” he murmured.
Cal smiled crookedly. “I knew you weren’t ready to hear it. I’ve been going slow. Maybe too slow.” His smile faded. “But it’s true. I love you, Dane. When I saw that picture of you in the paper, I felt like I’d been stabbed in the heart. If you loved her, if you really wanted to be with her, I wouldn’t have said a word. But you don’t, and I wanted you to know how I feel before you do something you can’t take back. You have a choice.”
As much as Dane wanted to believe he could make a choice—especially one as big as this—he knew it was just a fantasy. Since birth, he had been taught that his duty as the only Coulter son was to please his father. Randolph shut down any attempt Dane made to assert his own wants and needs until Dane gave up and gave in. He’d spent his life twisting himself out of shape to fit into the box that Randolph wanted him in, and it was a miracle he hadn’t broken completely. He’d given up his own dreams and desires in favor of bending to his father’s will until he wasn’t even sure he had any fight left in him anymore.
“No, I don’t have a choice. Not really. The fallout from breaking the engagement alone….” Dane shook his head, not even wanting to think about what a misery his life would become if he defied Randolph in such a way.
But Cal didn’t seem ready to accept that. “The problem is that he’s beat you down for so many years, you just can’t see a way out anymore.” He stroked Dane’s cheek with one finger. “I know it doesn’t help that he’s homophobic as hell, but he’s not invincible, either. He’s just a man. A bitter, hateful man who only cares about himself. I’m not a violent person, but I want to kill him for what he’s done to you.”
Dane looked down at his hands, his stomach knotting with shame. He wouldn’t blame Cal for getting tired of his weakness and cowardice and walking away.
“I wish I was as strong and brave as you are,” he said. “But I’m not. He’s powerful and ruthless. He let my sisters go, but he’d never let me go. Not his only son. He’d find a way to bring me back in line.”
And that way, Dane suspected, would be through his mother.
With a sigh, Cal moved closer and wrapped his arms around Dane, pulling him into a comforting embrace. “We’ll figure something out. I know you’re afraid, and honestly, it’s not baseless. Your father has been involved in some unsavory dealings. But he’s not going to win this time.”
Dane couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged, much less held, by anyone other than his mother. Despite being engaged, he’d avoided physical intimacy with Portia beyond a few kisses. Now he was in Cal’s arms, where he most wanted to be, and he couldn’t bring himself to push Cal away, not when Cal’s warm, solid strength offered such comfort. Instead, he allowed himself the luxury of leaning his head on Cal’s broad shoulder while he had the chance.
“I wish you wouldn’t go after him,” Dane said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt personally or professionally, especially not because of me.”
“There is nothing your father can do that would hurt me, except hurting you,” Cal replied. He stroked Dane’s back, his hands warm through the fabric of Dane’s shirt. “I’ve avoided getting involved up until now only because I’d never told you how I felt, and I didn’t want to make your life more difficult than it already was. But I don’t think you have anything to lose at this point if I can pull his focus off you and maybe damage him enough to have leverage to make him back down.”
“He’ll try to undermine your reputation and snipe your clients,” Dane said. “He’s ruined people’s careers before.”
“I’m not worried.” Cal’s voice was full of confidence. “Remember, he’s the one who’s suffered for going after me. The media doesn’t like him because he’s abused them, which is why there was so much negative publicity when he insulted me. I’ve had lots of experience with men like your father. He won’t be able to hold his temper in check, and that’s a weakness that can be exploited.”
As much as Dane wanted to believe Cal could defeat Randolph, he wasn’t convinced it would be as easy as Cal made it sound, and he released a long, heavy sigh. “Just promise you’ll be careful.”
“Trust me, I will.” Cal pulled back slightly, looking down at Dane with a smile curving his lips, his green eyes warm with affection. “I consider any risk I take to help you get free of him to be worth it. You are worth everything, Dane. If you wanted, I’d leave my firm, and New York, and run off with you anywhere you wanted to go.”
Dane gazed at Cal, almost overcome by the wild impulse to say yes, he wanted that. Part of him was still trying to process that Cal loved him and wanted to protect him from Randolph, but another part of him wanted nothing more than to accept everything Cal was offering and damn the consequences.
“You have no idea how tempting that is,” he said.
Cal moved a hand, cradling Dane’s face. “But not quite tempting enough?” he asked softly. His gaze moved to Dane’s mouth, and Cal leaned forward, pressing his lips to Dane’s in a tender kiss.
About the Authors
Ari McKay is the professional pseudonym for Arionrhod and McKay, who have been writing together for over a decade. Their collaborations encompass a wide variety of romance genres, including contemporary, fantasy, science fiction, gothic, and action/adventure. Their work includes the Blood Bathory series of paranormal novels, the Herc’s Mercs series, as well as two historical Westerns: Heart of Stone and Finding Forgiveness. When not writing, they can often be found scheming over costume designs or binge watching TV shows together.
Arionrhod is a systems engineer by day who is eagerly looking forward to (hopefully) becoming a full time writer in the not-too-distant future. Now that she is an empty-nester, she has turned her attentions to finding the perfect piece of land to build a fortress in preparation for the zombie apocalypse, and baking (and eating) far too many cakes.
McKay is an English teacher who has been writing for one reason or another most of her life. She also enjoys knitting, reading, cooking, and playing video games. She has been known to knit in public. Given she has the survival skills of a gnat, she’s relying on Arionrhod to help her survive the zombie apocalypse.
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