The final book in the Texas series which started with The
Heart of Texas is out today. Why not join in the giveaway below?
Blurb:
Sometimes Riley and
Jack have to be the ones to fight other people's battles and stand up for what
is right.
With the life changing prospect of a yes vote from SCOTUS on
the issue of same sex marriage, Riley and Jack realise they have decisions to
make.
Add in some distressing family news and the very real possibility that
old secrets may resurface, and this last book in the Texas series pulls
together as many threads as the boys can manage to handle.
But through all the ups and the downs, children, family
events, laughter, and tears, there is nothing as special as the forever love
between these two men.
The full book list:
Giveaway:
Competition to
win $15 Amazon/Are giftcard, and 2 further prizes of RJ Scott e-books – closes
8th October at 00:01 GMT (London)
OR
DIRECT LINK:
Excerpt
Chapter One
Jack slid his arms around Riley from behind and pressed his
cheek to the space between broad shoulders. He couldn’t stop himself from
moving his hands under the soft T-shirt material and caressing the warm skin.
Touching Riley was an addiction.
“You all done?” he asked.
Riley turned in Jack’s hold, the laundry in his hands
crushing between them.
“It’s like these tiny T-shirts multiply,” Riley groused. “I
turn my back for one minute and suddenly there’s another ten of the damn
things.”
Jack smiled up at his husband, at the narrowing of his
beautiful hazel eyes and the stubborn set of his mouth. Then he released his
hold of his waist and instead cradled his face.
“It was your idea to sort out the twins’ old clothes,” he
reminded Riley.
“I wanted to box it away….”
“We can do it together at the weekend.”
“I want to do it today—”
“It’s a Tuesday.” Jack interrupted Riley’s reasons why. “I
thought you said you had that report to read from Tom?”
Riley huffed a little. “I can’t concentrate.”
“So, you’re sorting clothes?”
“Is that a bad thing?” Riley sounded so defensive.
Jack sighed. “What are you avoiding?”
Riley raised an eyebrow, and Jack couldn’t help but press a
kiss to his lips. After all this time together, he had learned these weird
domestic chores Riley undertook were usually a way of avoiding things he didn’t
want to do. Whether it was Riley’s way of thinking about things, or pure
procrastination, Jack didn’t know.
“I have a shareholder meeting the first week of February.”
Riley finally said.
“I know. I got the same letter, but I wasn’t planning on
going. Why will this be different from any other meeting?” Jack was confused.
Hayes Oil meetings were dry and boring, and he’d survived the only two he’d
attended by slouching back in a chair directly opposite Riley. He would eat as
many of the complimentary mints as he could manage and gently disrupt the
meeting by rustling the wrappers. This never failed to make Riley smile. Mostly
Jack conned Josh into going, or gave Riley his proxy. Still, when he did go, he
loved nothing better than insolently lazing around and being all cowboy in the
room full of suits. Inevitably, this led to hot sex with Riley, who couldn’t
keep his eyes off Jack throughout the entire meeting.
“I have something to admit,” Riley said with a sigh. He
eased himself away from Jack and leaned back against the cabinet. “Dad has
appointed this new manager to the team, and we have a history.”
Jack huffed a laugh. “Riley, you have a history with so many
people, I lost count.”
Riley looked affronted for a second, but that emotion didn’t
slip into a ready smile, so Jack realized this was serious. Jack stood next to
Riley and waited for the man he loved, to admit what the hell was going on. In
fact, Riley had been weird for a few days: less quick to smile, less easy to
poke at, in a hurry to go find a quiet space away from everyone.
“Not like that,” Riley said. “The woman’s name is Charlotte
Harrold, and her dad is Josiah.”
Jack nodded. He and Josiah had their own kind of history, one
where Josiah had tried courting Donna and failed, where Josiah looked down at
Jack, and where Jack refused to give a rat’s ass. The fucker had blocked Hayes
Oil on several occasions and didn’t have a high opinion of Riley, nor of Riley
and Jack. Add to that, Tom, Riley’s right-hand man at work, had unfortunately
had a run-in with Josiah Jr., Charlotte’s brother. Too much history between the
Hayes and Harrold families.
“Why would Jim hire her, then?” Jack paused to think about
what he knew concerning Charlotte. “I remember her being a bitch with daddy
issues.”
Riley shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I asked him, and he
said she’s good at what she does, and that she’s changed, whatever that means.
Oh, and I should give her as much of a chance as people gave me.”
“Cryptic. So you think she’s going to cause trouble.”
Riley looked at Jack sharply. “Hell no. I know her work, and
she’ll be an asset. It’s only….”
Jack tensed. “You slept with her.”
“Jesus, Jack,” Riley said instantly. “No way. She was Jeff’s.
I mean she and Jeff were having an affair. He called her Charlie, and I damn
well walked in on them once. The wedding photos were still wet at the
printer’s, and there he was, fucking around on Lisa.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. And we’re going to be in the same room as her.
All I can remember is that Jeff was balls-deep in Charlie, and he had his
hands—” Riley demonstrated with his hands in front of him in a ring. “—around
her neck.”
Jack immediately realized what the problem was. The joined
families, whether Campbell or Hayes, had quietly consigned Jeff and everything
he had done to something never to be talked about. Riley never shared cute
childhood stories where he, Eden, and Jeff were friends; no tales of brotherly
misadventures. To Jack’s mind, Jeff had been born a sadistic bastard, and
likely there were a lot of stories Riley hadn’t told him about the kind of
things Jeff had done to both Riley and Eden.
“Seeing her makes you face what he did,” Jack said. He
reached over and held Riley’s hand, lacing their fingers together and
squeezing. This was what he did best. He was there for Riley, supporting him,
holding him up, knowing as much as he needed to know, and still being there for
the man who was his other half.
Riley sighed and bumped shoulders with Jack. “Yeah,” he
whispered.
“So your dad doesn’t know that Jeff and Charlie were…?”
“No. I’m sure I’m the only one.”
“Lisa didn’t know?”
Riley squeezed back. “She always knew he was unfaithful, but
with Charlie, no, I don’t think so.”
For a second, Jack allowed the words to settle. Lisa was
damaged by much more than physical pain. She had a world of hurt where her dead
husband was concerned, not least of which was the end result of what he did to
her. The secret she carried with her was too awful for Jack to contemplate
knowing how she lived with it.
“We don’t see enough of Lisa and the kids,” he said.
That was true. Lisa hadn’t visited in a while. Although to
be fair, whenever Jack and Riley organized a family gathering of any sort, they
always invited her. She’d moved to San Antonio with her fiancé, Ed, and was
building a place for herself and the kids well away from the life she’d had
here. Luke was sixteen, Annabelle coming up for nineteen. They weren’t at the
ranch as often as Josh’s kids. They had lives of their own, but still, Jack was
all about family.
“We’ll get them over, or maybe we’ll go visit them,” Jack
said. He wasn’t going to let Riley focus on this one thing to distract himself
from the central issue. “Back to the meeting. When you sit there, it will be
all business, and if she comes over to talk to you, you smile, nod, and put on
the best goddamn Riley act you can.”
“You’re not planning on being there.”
“I hate them,” Jack said, then he felt guilty. Riley was
clearly concerned about the meeting, and he should make the effort. “I can
try.”
“Don’t say that.” Riley smiled at Jack. “As much as I like
it when you do that ‘I don’t care, I’m a hot, dusty cowboy’ thing, I seriously
think you should stay away.”
“Yeah?”
Riley looked at him again. This time, the shadows had
disappeared from his eyes. “It’s like torture for you.”
“Tell me more about how you like the cowboy thing,” Jack
growled.
Riley grinned. “When you push the chair back and you kind of
sprawl there, with your thumbs in your belt. You smile and nod when you need to
and all I want to do is crawl over the table and ride you right there in the
meeting.”
Jack’s cock swelled and pressed against his jeans. Riley’s
voice was husky and low and sent every molecule of blood south.
“Jesus, Riley.”
“Sometimes you unwrap those stupid little mints, and you
press one to your lips, and then you suck it in.”
“I like the mints.”
“All I can imagine is my cock in your mouth, and I’m so
freaking hard I can’t concentrate on the numbers.”
Jack wriggled to get comfortable, and he had to press his
free hand to his zip to ease some of the pressure. “Like it’s easy for me,” he
muttered. “You in your suit, and those ties you wear, and all I can imagine is
ripping it all off, tying you down and fucking you into tomorrow. That’s the
only reason I go.”
Riley moved so quickly Jack didn’t have time to draw breath.
He straddled Jack and pushed him back on the bed.
“Carol.” Jack mentioned their nanny’s name with the last
remaining moments of having the presence of mind. “People…,” he added as a
warning, as Riley stole his words with the deepest, dirtiest, messiest kiss
he’d had since the last time they’d been in the barn.
Riley pulled back enough so Jack could look into his eyes.
“Barn,” Riley said. “Now.”
Riley scrambled up and away, unbuttoning his jeans and
adjusting himself. “Now,” he repeated.
With determination, they made it out of the house. Hayley
was at school, Max out with Robbie and the horses, the twins were happy with
Carol, so they had nothing to stop them. It didn’t matter it was ten in the
morning, this was happening.
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