Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway: Joshua’s Rainbow by Victoria Sue

We’re so pleased to have author Victoria Sue with us today to celebrate the release of the first book in her brand new Rainbow Keys series, Joshua’s Rainbow. She’s here to share an excerpt from the book with you as well as the chance to win an eBook from her backlist, so be sure to check out the entry details below.

Welcome, Victoria!

About the Book

Rainbow Key – an idyllic island retreat off the west coast of Florida. Think wedding destination, white sandy beaches, lurve… except at the moment Joshua is struggling to pay the electricity bill, they’ve no paying customers, and even if they did they can’t afford the repairs from the devastating hurricane that struck three years ago – and to top it off they have to take in Daniel, a grumpy businessman who has been ordered by his doctor to take some time off before he has a heart attack from too much stress.

Funnily enough, Daniel owns a very expensive hotel chain that has been trying to buy the island for the past two years. Not that Joshua knows that yet, and boy are sparks gonna fly when he thinks he’s been set up.

Of course, sparks of a different kind are also soon flying between them.

Then there’s Matt who just got let out of prison, Charlie who ran away from home, and Ben, a famous model until a devastating house fire destroyed his face.

Welcome to Rainbow Key – held together by love, family, and sticky tape.

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The Excerpt

Daniel listened as Joshua’s breathing slowed and evened out. Reaching over for his phone, he tried to ignore his painfully hard cock and mentally urged patience. He could wait. He peered at the screen, and sadly acknowledging he needed to wear the glasses he had and had been avoiding, he blew out a breath. He wasn’t fooling himself that Joshua had been so eager because he was helpless not to fall for Daniel’s good looks or rapier wit. Daniel clamped his free hand over his mouth before he let out the snort of laughter that bubbled up and woke Joshua up. He glanced over at him, again knowing he was lucky to catch Joshua needy with no available outlet. It was simply that. Twenty-somethings were all horny as hell and Daniel had just been convenient. He wasn’t about to fool himself into believing there was any other reason.

He gently brushed the short dark hair away from Josh’s closed eyes. Not that it was long enough to get in the way—it was merely an excuse to touch him—and he stared at the sleeping young man. He needed to sleep and he was sure the people downstairs could all get their own dinner… well, not the guests. He thought about that one for a minute. Maybe he ought to wake Joshua up? Or maybe I can help? Josh would have been frantic about the visit from the lawyer and he probably hadn’t slept. He slid his arm out and held his breath as Josh murmured something incoherently but settled down again. He covered him with the comforter, resisted the inexplicable urge to kiss him, and quickly got dressed.

He walked down the steps and headed for the kitchen. Charlie was standing in the middle of the floor, shaking. Matt was trying to calm him down and there was no sign of anyone else. Charlie looked at Daniel in alarm. “Joshua’s missing,” he declared dramatically.

Daniel tried not to roll his eyes. He wasn’t obviously, but he wasn’t about to say where he was. He didn’t want to make it awkward for Joshua.

“He’s nowhere,” Charlie burst out. “He’s not in his room and Matt searched everywhere outside.”

Daniel’s eyebrows rose and Matt had the grace to look uncomfortable. “I could understand your concern if it was say…three a.m. and he’d been absent all day, but we’re talking an hour, maybe two since I’ve seen him certainly,” Daniel reasoned. It had been considerably less but he was trying to avoid saying that.

Matt sighed. “It’s not that. It’s just we’re getting another guest and she’s gonna expect a cooked meal and we’re all crap in the kitchen.”

“Who’s crap in the kitchen?” Angie asked as she opened the screen door.

“We are,” Charlie decreed.

Angie looked puzzled. “So, Josh’ll be here in a minute,” she reasoned. “Mark and Graeme have taken supplies for a barbeque on the beach, and Mr. Teasdale is away for two days. There’s no panic.”

“But May-belle is coming,” Charlie shrieked, and Angie paled.

“Where’s Josh?” She rounded on Daniel for some reason.

“Who’s Mabel?” Daniel asked, stalling for time.

“It’s May-belle,” Angie corrected. “Specifically, May-belle Delange. Clive Delange’s elder sister.”

“Is this something to do with the lawyers?” Daniel asked. Angie shot him a suspicious look. “Joshua told me,” he added quickly.

“Yes, and no,” Angie replied, collapsing onto one of the chairs. “She has no pots of money to save the hotel, but she has a lot of influence in the local community. Josh was hoping she could help get things moving a little.”

“We need to find Joshua,” Charlie’s voice rose in panic. “Did he go on the beach?” Charlie’s eyes grew round. And Daniel gave up before Charlie could imagine a shark attack or something.

“He’s upstairs in my room,” Daniel admitted to stop Charlie panicking. “He was asking about possible marketing campaigns and to be honest the guy’s worn out. He fell asleep.”

The silence could have filled Carnegie Hall.

“I didn’t want to say where he was because I didn’t want the kid to be embarrassed.” There—“kid” was a nice touch. Made him seem all fatherly, and Daniel tried not to let it make him want to slit his wrists, or at least order a walking frame. Hell, throw in a pipe and some slippers and he might as well pick out funeral hymns.

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. Matt looked at the clock on the wall. “I have to go pick her up in thirty minutes.”

“We’re still gonna have to wake Josh,” Angie said.

Over my dead body. “Why? Does she need a special diet or anything?”

Charlie shook his head. “No, Josh just likes her to have everything perfect.”

Daniel smiled and started rolling up his sleeves. “I can do perfect—well, simple and perfect anyway.” He hadn’t spent fourteen years in and out of hotel kitchens without it rubbing off on him. He opened the fridge. “Does she dislike anything?”

There was a silence, so Daniel glanced behind him. Charlie, Matt, and Angie were all looking at him like he had two heads. “I can do this but I need some fresh salad stuff.” He looked at Matt.

“I’ll ask Ben to grab some on my way out.”

Daniel nodded and turned back to the fridge. Chicken breasts, mushrooms. There were some beef strips but he ignored those. He fished around and found some cream. He shut the fridge door and started opening cupboards. “Do we have any brandy?” Albert the head chef at Sunset Palace always swore by brandy.

Charlie blinked. “We do actually. Josh keeps it for May-belle.”

“Excellent,” Daniel replied and started pulling everything from the fridge. He was going to season the chicken first. He glanced back and saw the three stooges still there gawking at him.

“Shoo.” He waved his hand. “Go make the place look pretty.” He paused. “Is there somewhere for her to stay?”

“Susie’s just cleaning the room,” Angie announced. “I’ll go give her a hand.”

“I’m going to get the blankets for the boat,” Matt muttered and the screen door banged behind him.

“How many am I cooking for?” Daniel asked, fishing around in the bottom cupboard for a chopping board. He turned when there was no answer. Charlie was standing still, looking at him oddly. “Charlie?” he pressed.

Charlie looked like he was trying to make a decision. “There’ll be eight eating here, but Ben will need something set aside and kept warm.”

“Is that my fault?” Daniel paused from trimming the chicken breasts. He remembered the glimpse of the young man who he was still convinced he had chased from the kitchen. Charlie shook his head.

“No, most days he can’t even cope with us.”

Daniel frowned. He wanted to ask but he didn’t have the right.

“In case you haven’t worked it out,” Charlie said in a low voice. “Clive brought broken things home and tried to fix them. Josh has just carried on with that.”

Daniel didn’t ask for clarification. He knew the “things” that Charlie referred to weren’t objects, they were people. His heart thumped harder. Joshua? Had he needed fixing? What had happened to that young man?

Charlie turned, and for a second Daniel thought he was going to leave but he perched on one of the chairs. “I never knew Clive. I wish I had. It was Josh that brought me here.”

Daniel had a million things to do in a very short space of time but he slowly walked to the table and sat on one of the other chairs. He looked at Charlie, he was incredibly delicate, ethereal almost. Daniel would have put him around five feet five. His hair was a very pale blond, almost white when the sun hit it and his eyes were a bright duck-egg blue. Daniel almost snorted. It was Charlie that was the artist, not him. When had he ever used the phrase duck-egg blue? It fit though. He was one of the prettiest individuals he had ever seen, and that included his niece. Not that he would ever tell her parents that.

“How long have you lived here?” Daniel thought that was a safe-ish question. He would either get a one-word answer or Charlie would expand if he felt comfortable enough.

“Four hundred and seventy five days,” Charlie said immediately.

“That’s very specific,” Daniel replied. Not exactly sure what else to say.

“Josh was visiting May-belle in the hospital and I was running away.”

“From the hospital?” Daniel blurted out the question before he could stop himself.

Charlie grinned and stood up. “Don’t worry, it’s not contagious. I’ll tell Ben you need the salad things and then I’ll come back and set the table in the small dining room she likes.”

“There’s two dining rooms?” Daniel asked in surprise, acknowledging that Charlie had put an end to that conversation.

“Of course there is,” Charlie reproved him. “This is a hotel.”

Daniel smiled at the little flounce that accompanied Charlie’s words. He stood up and looked at the clock. He had an hour.

About the Author

Victoria Sue…

Victoria Sue fell in love with love stories as a child when she would hide away with her mom’s library books and dream of the dashing hero coming to rescue her from math homework. She never mastered math but managed to dream up quite a few heroes. Loves reading and writing about gorgeous boys loving each other the best—especially with a paranormal twist—but always with a happy ending. Is an English northern lass currently serving twenty to life in Florida—unfortunately, she spends more time chained to her computer than on a beach.

Loves to hear from her readers and can be found most days lurking on Facebook where she doesn’t need factor 1000 sun-cream to hide her freckles.

Social Links: Website || Facebook || Twitter

The Giveaway

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