Welcome to author A.E. Via and the tour for her latest release, Promises Part 4! We have an exclusive excerpt from the book to share with you today, and there’s also a giveaway, so be sure to check out those details below. Enjoy!
About the Book
Men found him attractive, interesting even. He was like a fascinating experiment gone wrong that men liked to investigate. He’d get a date – or two, if he was lucky – but it wasn’t long before Brian’s darkness showed, and the men were running from him.
Brian King was honorably discharged from the United States Navy five years ago. He’d left with the highest honors a man can receive in his country, but he’d paid the ultimate price to earn them. He was considered one of the best; an Intelligence Officer in a Joint Special Operations Delta team that’d been a twelve-man wrecking crew. They’d thought they were invincible… until they weren’t. Brian was the only member that survived the ambush. He survived ten months of pain, of torture, only to emerge on the other side a warrior. A POW survivor. He’d returned home with all his limbs, his right mind, and with his only brother Ford, at his side. But, one thing had been lost, maybe for good… his voice.
Now, being a bounty hunter is Brian’s only means to satisfy his need to calculate, track, and capture. His only outlet to the stress caused by his silence. He was good at what he did. But, all work and no play for a forty-four year old man was taking its toll. Brian wasn’t a faulty experiment. He missed companionship, he missed communicating. So, when he met Sway Hamilton – in the most unconventional means – he’d been surprised at his special way of understanding Brian’s every look… and touch.
Sway grew up in the rough part of ATL, trailing behind his twin brother Stanton and his best friend, Dana. He and his brother had a bond only twins could understand. So when Stanton’s life was taken during their sophomore year in college, Sway didn’t think he’d ever recover. He finally finished school, got his masters in nursing, worked hard, and focused on taking care of his mother. However, Sway knew there was more to life than heartache, and caring for others. There had to be. But he didn’t know what any of those things were until he met a dark hunter that blew his mind… and the intense man had never uttered a single word.
Brian and Sway can feel the powerful connection between them. It was there from the start—but both of them have battled with loss and anguish for so long, neither understand that love can ease all of it. Do they have the courage to battle through it together? Sway has to learn to trust in love, and Brian has to believe that Sway will always understand him even if he never speaks again.
Sway held him tight around his neck, “I don’t need you to talk, Brian. I can hear you just fine,” Sway whispered softly, kissing his throat
This novel is a part of a series but can be read as a standalone. No cliffhangers.
Trigger Warning: This story contains acts of bond recovery agent violence. Mention of war zones and descriptions of war prisoners. This story DOES NOT contain overly-described acts of torture.
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The Excerpt
He sounded like an angel to him. Sway in his home, his voice ricocheting off the walls and lingering in the atmosphere. His usually quiet atmosphere. It felt so good to hear a voice in his home that didn’t come from an electronic device. It was crazy, the little things people took for granted that they enjoyed every day. Sway’s voice was masculine and comforting. Brian was sure it helped his bedside manner because it wasn’t a deep, raspy voice like his own, it was a soothing tenor bass. He spoke as if his voice was made for comfort. And, God, did it ease him.
Brian liked Sway’s responses. To everything. When he’d opened the door. When he touched him. When he looked at him. The handsome nurse was an open book, whether he knew it or not. The blatant want and need were there in those big, bedroom brown eyes but a lot of other things were too. Brian’s greedy mind wanted to know them all. Wanted to know Sway inside and out. Brian took in and cataloged every single detail Sway involuntarily gave him. He let Sway tell him a beautiful story right there in his foyer. He told Brian how stimulated he made him by the way his chest continued to rapidly rise and fall the closer he got. Sway’s body whispered how just Brian’s eyes on him could make his jeans a little tighter. Brian slowly let his eyes roam lower, knowing he’d been right. Sway flushed gorgeously and cast his eyes to the floor. Brian had to clench his fists as Sway sang his submissiveness without even knowing it. If he didn’t stop watching Sway and reading his body like a romantic poem, he’d never stick to his original plan.
Just TLC, that’s all you’ll get tonight. Brian stroked some of Sway’s hair behind his ear. But, if you only knew what I wanted to do to you, you’d turn and run now. Brian gritted his teeth. He had to remember the deal he’d made with that annoying wench, patience. He needed to pace himself or he’d scare away his sweet nurse.
Instead of picking Sway up, hauling him into his bedroom and putting him on his knees in front of him like he wanted to; he put a couple of inches of space between them and eased his arm up Sway’s back until his palm rested on his neck. He moved them farther into the house, passing doorways, only dropping his hand as Sway relaxed and began to take in the rooms.
Brian brushed him gently on the shoulder to get his attention. “I’ll show you some more of my pieces if you want but first I want to feed you. Did you eat?”
Sway’s dark blond brows rose up and a surprised look crossed his face. “I haven’t eaten.”
“Good. Dinner’s already ready.” Brian nodded to the left, where his eat-in kitchen was. “Kitchen’s this way.” Brian loved that his floor plan wasn’t all open space like the newer homes. Each of the rooms in his house had an entrance and walls and he loved that. Dana had said that Brian’s house felt so much like a maze, with all the columns and ins and outs, that they could play a real live game of Clue there.
Brian took Sway’s hand and led him down the hall and made a sharp left into the kitchen, if they’d made a right they’d be in the den. Everything was neat and clean. It came from years of military life. Brian wasn’t a slob, couldn’t be one if he tried, but he didn’t have OCD either, he’d left more than one damp towel on the floor.
He pointed to the small bistro dinette set in front of the bay windows. While he went over and got the plates ready, he noticed Sway staring out of the open window at his backyard. The globe lights he had strung across the deck were lit, illuminating his nice fire pit set up. He used it often, by himself, but he could only imagine what it’d be like to wrap Sway in his arms and sit outside, holding him under the stars on a cool evening. Stop it. Brian kept his back to Sway as he spooned a portion of the green beans onto the plate. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was thinking about the two of them in the future already. Not good.
“Smells good. What are we having?” Sway asked, picking at his fingers.
Is that a nervous habit of his? Brian signed the menu for tonight and noticed Sway crinkle his forehead and pinch his pink lips together when Brian got to the main course.
“You don’t like fish?” Brian didn’t let a defeated look play across his face but he couldn’t believe he’d gotten that wrong.
“Oh, yes, I do.” Sway chuckled nervously. “I told you my signing is a little rusty. I haven’t lived with my aunt since I was a teenager and she doesn’t visit as often as she used to, either. What was that sign you did after the potatoes? It wasn’t fish.” Sway signed fish then gave Brian a playful scowl. “Did you just make up something? You’re not one of those people that if they don’t know the sign for that word then they just do some random hand gesture then continue with their sentence.”
Brian’s surprised laugh escaped him so fast, it sounded like a harsh cough. Sway didn’t let on if he thought the sound was strange, instead he laughed more and started making some crazy signs for random meats that made absolutely no sense. Was that supposed to be the sign for frog legs or venison? Before Brian could even clarify the meal, he had to stop chuckling and get past the surreal feeling of being on a date with a man and him teasing Brian about his signing. And not in an asshole kind of way, but in an affectionate one. Brian finger spelled salmon then did the sign for it.
“Damn, this looks amazing,” Sway said softly when Brian set the neatly arranged plate in front of him. “I do like salmon. It’s my favorite seafood actually… that and crabs. Anything crabs and I love it.”
“Good to know.” Brian brought over the bottle of Chardonnay and poured Sway a glass, then refilled his own. He wasn’t much of a wine drinker, but he could tolerate a couple of glasses with dinner. “Bon appétit.”
Sway smirked. “Okay, you’re doing it again. What was that?”
“That was French, for enjoy your meal.”
“French sign language? Really? Show off.”
Brian’s chest rumbled again. He loved that feeling, especially since it didn’t happen too often.
A.E. Via has been a best-selling author in the beautiful gay romance genre for four years now, but she’s no stranger to MM. She’s been an avid reader of gay lit for over fifteen years before she picked up her laptop to place her own kiss on this genre. She’s also the founder and owner of Via Star Wings Books, having published a couple great new up and coming MM authors.
A.E. has a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Virginia Wesleyan College that she used to start her own paralegal firm after she graduated in 2008. She spent five years preparing and filing bankruptcy petitions for struggling blue collar workers who couldn’t afford to file with a lawyer. It was a rewarding and satisfying career… but another path called to me. Writing.
A.E.’s writing embodies everything from hopelessly romantic to adventure, to scandalous. Her stories often include intriguing edges and twists that take readers to new, thought-provoking depths.
Now that she’s gotten over her 10 books published hump, she’s kind of known now for her hardcore, play rough and love hard, bad boy, alphas. However, I do like to push myself to step out of my comfort zone, exploring with different tropes, but I won’t push myself into a whole other genre. I’m head over heels for gay romance and I have tons of more hot stories to tell.
Be sure to visit Adrienne on her social media pages and subscribe to her newsletter to never miss another release date! Go to A.E. Via’s official website for more detailed information on how to contact her, follow her, or a sneak peak on upcoming work, free reads, VSWB submissions, and where she’ll appear next.
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The Giveaway
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