Kia Ora...

Early mornings are starting to get a little chillier here, but the days are continuing to stay relatively warm which isn't bad for mid autumn. There may also be some good news on the housing front too.. so keeping my fingers crossed that it all comes to fruition and I can start looking for more permanent housing!!

Exciting news in the publishing world with Kobo+ finally available to those in the US and UK markets. The advantages of Kobo+ over KU is that Kobo doesn't require an author to be exclusive to it's platform to be a part of the program. And yes, all of my books are included in Kobo+.

Updates

Naomi Aoki

• Devotion has reached the top of my proofreaders pile and all going well I will be hitting publish on this by the end of the coming week. Both the paperback and the ebook will be published at the same time.

Mandy Greenwood

• I'm getting closed to being finished with the rewrite of A Baby for Albie (Silverdale City 2). I will republished these once I've finished with book 3 - Love you Forever, Drayce... and for the first time they'll be made availabe in paperback.

MJ Green

• Love Unpicked (House of Bolton 6) is currently sitting at 9k words. Often the first 10k words of a book can be really hard to get right, but this book is flowing really well, with the only problem being a secondary character who wishes to have more of the spotlight.
• Defrocked (House of Bolton Novella) is also flowing well and I have written just over 6k on it.

Bookfunnel Promos

• MM Smashword Sale
• MM Romance First in Series
• Wide MM Romance

April Sales

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Chapter Thirteen

“You okay?” Hunter asked, brows furrowed.

Mike inhaled deeply. “Yeah…I will be…eventually,” he replied, the words falling from his lips in a tired slur. “Right now, though I’m drained…and I’m supposed to head out to dinner with Jordan.”

“Yeah? Whereabouts were you going to go?”

“Silver Dice… it was one of our favourite restaurants to eat at before…well, everything. But honestly, I don’t know if I can… don’t know if I can deal with the pressure that comes with it.”

“If you’re worried about how Jordan will react to you changing your mind…then don’t. Explain it to him. Tell him what’s going on inside your head and be honest with him.”

“I know that.”

“He’s not going to be disappointed with you…just the situation. So long as your…” Hunter’s words faded off, but Mike could easily fill in what was missing.

“Yeah, I know all that… but fuck, it doesn’t make it any less frustrating,” Mike snapped. “I should be able to do things like go out to dinner with my husband without worrying about whether I’ll freak out because a fan said hello. I used to deal with those things all the damn time… did it with a smile on my face and not one of terror.”

“We don’t need to go to a restaurant.”

Mike jolted in his seat, surprised by Jordan’s sudden appearance in the box. His husband should be down with the rest of the team warming down, not wandering around the hallways of the stadium.

“But you made reservations… and it’s your favourite.”

Jordan braced himself against the doorframe. “I only want us to have dinner together… it doesn’t matter where… and we’ve done that much before.”

Mike winced at the reminder of their last meal together. It had started off alright but had quickly devolved into an argument that had threatened to derail their reconciliation before it had even started. He and Jordan hadn’t been on the same page back then, not regarding the future of their relationship, but they were now.

“Are you sure?”

“Dinner together…that’s all that matters, not the where it happens.”

He stared at Jordan confused by his husband’s words despite knowing that the answer should’ve been easy to decipher. Grateful too that Jordan was understanding and willing to accommodate the difficulties that Mike’s current mental state presented. Hated to that his husband had to do it.

“Where then? There’s not a lot of food in my apartment right now.”

“Home. Come home and I’ll cook… or you can… whatever you want.”

Mike narrowed his eyes at Jordan. “You can cook? Since when? You couldn’t even boil water without burning it.”

Jordan grinned. “I took lessons.”

Mike snorted. “So, you attempted to burn down someone else’s kitchen.” He was still hesitant to step inside a house steeped in complicated emotions. Memories of their happier times smashed together with those when Mike’s mind had delved into darker places. Yet despite that Mike was desperate to check on the wellbeing of his kitchen…his sanctuary. “And you’d better not have destroyed my kitchen.”

“Your kitchen?” Jordan retorted with a small smile. “Don’t worry, I didn’t damage your precious kitchen…much.”

“Not sure I’ll believe that.”

His tiredness slowly faded with the playful banter they were exchanging. Mike’s worries over dinner were wiped from his mind by the fears for his kitchen, not trusting Jordan’s assurances at its wellbeing completely. The idea that Jordan might have grown more as a person in the last two years while they were separated didn’t anger him, but it did leave him feeling a little disconnected from who is husband was now.

And once again he feared the damage he’d done to their marriage by leaving couldn’t be repaired.

“And I might have to check it out myself.” Mike stood up, wincing as his knee—stiff from sitting too long—protested the sudden change in position.

“Good… I can show you my cooking skills.”

Mike grimaced. “Maybe I’ll let you make the salad. You’ve got a stocked pantry, right? Filled with things other than cheat diet foods.”

Jordan nodded.

He doubted that it was stocked to the same levels as it had been when Mike had still lived at the house. The kitchen had been his escape, the place he retreated when needing to destress after practices and games.

“Meat? What’ve you got in the freezer?” he asked, taking a step forward before cursing as his knee locked up barely giving Mike time to brace himself for the impact of what would be a nasty fall.

But Mike didn’t hit the ground as expected as strong arms grabbed a hold of him. And though Jordan’s warm embrace brought Mike comfort, the painful dig of the man’s fingers into his biceps, and the fine tremor travelling through them was something Mike could’ve done without.

“You can let me go now,” he uttered, the risk of his falling having passed.

“Fuck…don’t scare me like that.” Jordan eased back on his tight grasp of Mike. “Does that still happen often? Why have you got your walking stick with you?”

Mike blew out a harsh breath. “I don’t need the stick anymore,” he ground out. “And I’m only at risk of falling if I’ve been inactive for long periods… like sitting through the entire nine innings of a game!”

“Why didn’t you grab him?” Jordan glared at his brother over Mike’s shoulder.

“I knew you’d catch him,” Hunter replied.

Mike winced at the strained tension lingering between the brothers while biting back an acerbic comment about Jordan risking his own health by catching him. “Anyway… if you’re ready to head out Jordan, we should go now. I need to figure out what you’ve got in the cupboards and freezer for dinner.”

“Steak…all kinds of steak. Mince… bacon… roast meats of some description… salmon.”

“You can cook all of those?” His eyebrows rose to the same heights as his voice.

“Ah…no,” Jordan replied sheepishly. “I thought if you weren’t up to heading out to a restaurant then you might want to cook instead… so, I stocked up on all your favourites.”

Mike stared at his husband, stunned. He didn’t know what to say… didn’t know whether to thank Jordan for being so thoughtful or growl at him for being presumptuous. In the end, he decided on a small smile and left his words unspoken until he was certain the cacophony of emotions roiling around inside of him had calmed.

“Shall we go?”

Jordan grinned and gestured at the door.

******

Competitive Gymnast x Underground fighter

Best Friends to Lovers

MM Romance

Sports Injury

Money Problems

An ill advised bet

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