Yes! I’m a day late. I don’t even know why. I blame it on the holi-DAZE and a writing deadline.

So today I want to welcome not one but TWO fabulous Tuesday Teaser authors:

Author Number one is the amazing Marie Sexton. She of the fabulous shoes.

Marie Sexton lives in Colorado. She’s a fan of just about anything that involves muscular young men piling on top of each other. In particular, she loves the Denver Broncos and enjoys going to the games with her husband. Her imaginary friends often tag along. Marie has one daughter, two cats, and one dog, all of whom seem bent on destroying what remains of her sanity. She loves them anyway. You can find Marie at her website, HERE, and on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t Forget!

His art took him away, as it so often did. He lost all sense of space and time. He barely noticed the soreness in his backside from sitting on the ground, or the pain in his shoulder from his hunched position. He knew only shapes and lines, reflections and light. It was a calm place inside him that occupied him, yet left some remote corner of his mind free and clear to think of other things. Today, he thought only of the sun and the grass and how surprisingly good it felt to be there. He had worried he wouldn’t fit in here, and maybe he didn’t, but he found it suited him all the same.

He didn’t see or hear  ****** approaching. It wasn’t until he sat down next to **** in the grass that he noticed him at all. **** looked over at him in surprise.

****** didn’t look at him. He didn’t say anything, either. He sat there, his knees up and his forearms draped over them, staring out into the field, and **** waited, wondering what in the world was on the man’s mind.

****** finally looked over at him and he seemed startled to find **** watching him. “Am I bothering you?” he asked.

“Not at all,” **** said. “I missed you at breakfast.”

****** shrugged uncomfortably, obviously disconcerted by such a frank statement. He looked down at ****’s sketchpad. “What’re you drawing?”

**** hesitated, afraid ****** would make fun of him for his art as he had the first day they’d met, back in Milton, but he saw no mockery in his eyes. Only friendly curiosity.

He held his sketchbook out and ****** took it.

He didn’t say anything for the longest time. He looked at the drawing, then up at the bull in the field, then down again at the drawing. He seemed puzzled. “I don’t get it,” he said at last. “I can see it’s the bull, but it’s not the same at all.”

****’s heart fell at the words. “I guess it’s not very good,” he said, reaching to take the pad back.

****** pulled it out of his reach, still looking at it. “That ain’t what I said. It’s just…” he looked up at the bull again, then down at the sketchpad, his brows furrowed as he tried to find the words. “When I look at your picture, he looks… Well, I guess he looks strong. And proud. He looks special, like he’s something way more than all the other cattle.” He looked back up at the bull standing in the grass, lazily chewing his cud. “But he’s just a bull,” he said, pointing out at him. “Nothing special at all.”

It was such awkward praise, and yet **** found himself smiling. He felt something inside him swell with pride. “That means I did it right,” he said.

~*~

AND BECAUSE I’m a DITZ, and you had to wait: Here’s a second Tuesday Teaser, from the lovely and talented CR Guiliano!

CR writes in many genres, but is most happy writing the love between two men (or more!).

CR has a huge warren of plot bunnies that is growing every day and can’t wait to fill out the story ideas and share them. CR is a committed advocate for the GLBT community and does her best to change society’s attitudes, one mind at a time. You can find CR’s blog here.

Now for CR’s excerpt:

The nurse led **** down a sterile, white hallway lined with glass doors and most covered with thick curtains. The ones that were open had no patients. They stopped outside of 9B and **** felt himself shaking. The nurse turned back to him, laying a hand on the sliding door’s handle.

“As many times as I tell people not to be shocked or dismayed at the condition of their loved one or the number of machines and wires connected to them, it never really helps. It will look much worse than it is. He’s comfortable, shouldn’t be in any pain and is healing. Do you have any questions before you go in?”

**** was nodding at the nurse. “Um, just one. I was told he was being kept in a drug induced coma, but heard his mother say he was waking up?” **** asked. The nurse smiled at him.

“Mr. ******’ last CT scan this morning showed the swelling in his brain had gone down by almost 89% so he has been taken off the drugs to keep him unconscious. He does have pain medication and antibiotics in his IV and he has a g-tube and catheter. At the rate he’s going, he might even be moved to a regular room by tomorrow.” The nurse said and then giggled. “It is common knowledge around here what Mr. ****** said to Dr. *******, so you have become somewhat of a celebrity. We all believe his recovery is directly related to how much he loves you.” She added and **** blushed furiously. The nurse patted his arm kindly. “Everyone only has fifteen minutes to visit him in ICU, however, you have authority to stay as long as you like. Just don’t tire him out too much. He needs rest…and your presence…more than anything to heal.” The nurse finished, gave him a gentle push towards the door as she slid it open and then walked to her station outside ******’s room.

**** stared at the curtain, then gently pushed it aside and entered the room. Immediately, he was assaulted with the antiseptic hospital smell, the constant beeping of machines and the low drone of the TV mounted on the wall in the corner. He took a deep breath and lifted his eyes to gaze at the man he loved. He cringed at the bruises that were the most prominent thing he noticed first. ******’s face was a mass of blue, black and purple. One eye was almost swollen shut. ****’s gaze quickly traveled down ******’s body. Most was covered by a light blanket, but he could see the bulges that indicated casts. He knew there was one on ******’s ankle and his right arm. His left arm was scraped, the skin raw as it lie on top of the covers, the IV needle taped to the indent at his elbow. **** didn’t know what they were doing for his hip, but he certainly could relate to that discomfort. He noticed ******’s feet were moving restlessly and almost grinned. He knew why. From the time he’d met ******, the man could not stand to have his feet covered. **** moved quietly to the bottom of the bed and carefully lifted the blanket and sheet off ******’s feet. One had a cast on it, but looking at ******’s face, **** saw the immediate relief there, and ****** sighed. Silently, he moved to stand next to the bed, his hand coming up to gently brush ******’s hair off his forehead. He skin was cool to the touch and **** was thankful. Hot skin could mean infection. Even **** knew that much. He should after his hip had gotten infected, which was the main reason he would be forever dependent on prescription pain killers. Just even being here was playing havoc on ****’s bad memories. The smells and sounds bringing back his own stay in the hospital. He continued to gaze down at ******, watching him sleep. So overwhelmingly grateful that ****** was alive, **** leaned down and pressed his lips to ******’s, giving him a tender kiss. He pulled up only far enough to whisper to him. “I love you.” When he stood again, he was startled to see ******’s beautiful hazel eyes open and directly on him, boring into his own green eyes. *****’s lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. He did mouth ‘I love you too’ back at **** and ****’s eyes stung with tears. One escaped and traveled down his cheek. ****** lifted his uninjured arm and brushed the tear with the back of his fingers. **** captured his hand gently and held it against his chest, right above his heart. ****** mouthed again, ‘Don’t cry’ at **** and **** gave him a wavering smile. ****** puckered his lips at him, making a smacking sound and **** laughed. He leaned down to kiss ****** again, feeling ****** kiss him back. God! It felt so good to have ****** respond. To feel his lips move under his after thinking he’d never feel that again. **** heard the heart monitor attached to ****** speed up and he reluctantly broke the kiss.

Last week we talk about movies! I’m amazed at some of the guilty pleasure movie lovers out there! I watched two of my guilty pleasure movies with the family this week, Red, and Red 2!

Last week’s winner? Jean!

This week my guests will share their answers with us, and you, gentle readers, can give your answer to my question in the comment section below. I’ll choose one random person from the comments and reward them with an ebook surprise, it’s that simple!

Tell me what your answer to today’s question would be in the comments, and you could win an e-book!

This weeks question is:

I always make Christmas cookies. It’s a tradition I started the year my daughter was born, which means my first round was me baking with a one-month old strapped to my chest. I made about six different kinds that first year, then gave them away to friends and family. As the years have gone on, I’ve done more, and more, and more, sometimes as many as a dozen different cookies. My daughter takes them to school, to lesson instructors, and everyone who comes to my house or invites me to theirs looks at my arms as soon as I enter. “Are there any cookies?”

The holidays for me can be pretty interesting to orchestrate. After one of my family celebrations, I’m pretty sure I could run a Fortune 500 company and not break a sweat. Right before the holiday, it’s a mad scramble to get some work done so I can take the day before and the day of the holiday off.

Christmas is my all time favorite holiday. My children are under threat of bodily harm if they don’t come home for Christmas. When they have children of their own, they can spend Christmas morning at home with their kids, but then everyone comes to Mom’s house.

Our day starts with stockings. The rule is Mom and Dad get to have one cup of coffee before anything happens. Over the years my kids have gotten smart and show up with Starbucks in hand. Everyone crawls onto the bed with Mom and Dad and opens stockings. As our family grew, this became very interesting. We now have about fifteen people huddled around our bed going through their stockings.

Then it’s off to the presents.

Every year, someone is designated the honorary Santa. Their job is to hand out one present at a time to people in order. Dad made it a habit to make sure everyone got an equal amount of presents. With six kids, you kind of have to or chaos ensues.

As soon as presents are opened, a few of us head to the kitchen to put the turkey in the oven while others do a quick clean up. The usual count for dinner is upwards of twenty five people so cooking is a two day affair at our house (deserts and muchies cooked the day before), with enough food for my army laid out buffet style for the snacks then the good dishes for the dinner. (I got lazy over Thanksgiving and we ate on paper plates).

The rest of the day is spent playing with toys, watching football, and hanging out with the family. I will admit that once everyone is engaged in video games or whatever, I do tend to sneak off and do a little writing. Every little word helps.

So, that’s my holiday…may not sound all that exciting but my entire family looks forward to Christmas the entire year. As my children grow and start their own adult lives, finding a time for all of us to be in one place at the same time is kind of like trying to get the planets to align. This is the one day out of the year I know my entire family will be under my roof…and that may be the best Christmas present of them all. — Author Stormy Glenn

Purchase Not So Simple Simon at Bookstrand

When I still lived in New Jersey, we used to have a few Christmas traditions. The weekend before Christmas, we would have a huge Christmas party at my house. Friends and family would come and stay late into the night laughing, drinking, and eating. We’d have enough food and cookies to feed a couple armies.

Christmas Eve would always be spent at my grandparent’s house in Cape May. On the way home, we’d listen to the Santa Tracker. Christmas morning, the entire family would come to our house for breakfast and all of us kids would open our presents. That evening, we’d all meet at my aunt’s house for Christmas dinner and for the adults to exchange presents.

Those are really the only Christmas traditions we had. When I moved down to SC, those traditions were left behind. The family still in NJ gets together Christmas evening at my aunt’s house still, but that’s it. The only part we still do down here is the Christmas baking where my mother goes on a cookie making binge. Despite the fact that we no longer have our huge Christmas party, she still bakes like we do. — Author William Cooper

Purchase For His Love:   Amazon   ARE   B&N

Congratulations to:

Emily, who won the Loose Id Gift Certificate.

AND

Debra, Kat, and Melora, who won iTunes Gift cards.

Eddie and Andrew have dynamite chemistry. But Eddie’s profoundly dyslexic, and Andrew lives to read. Andrew’s pathologically disorganized, and Eddie likes things neat and clutter free.

Andrew’s ashamed of his hoarder father, and Eddie’s embarrassed by his lack of education – secrets that could pull them apart even as a friend’s tragedy brings them together.

When Andrew’s father devolves and nearly dies because of his compulsion, Eddie and Andrew must learn compassion begins with loving one’s self.

Read an excerpt HERE

Purchase Eddie: Grime Deosn’t Pay:  AMAZON  ARE   Loose Id

Let’s have a GREAT BIG Tuesday Teaser welcome to KC Burn, another one of my friends from the Orange County Chapter of the RWA!

Here’s what KC says about herself:

I’ve been writing for what feels like my whole life. I’m a sucker for a happy ending (get your mind out of the gutters!) so it’s been romance almost all the way. After moving from Toronto to Florida for my hubby to take a dream job, I discovered a love of gay romance and fulfilled my own dream — getting published. After a few years of editing web content by day and at night, neglecting my supportive hubby and needy cat to write about men loving men, I was uprooted yet again, and now reside in California.

Writing is always fun, despite the hard work, but writing about my guys is more fun than I’ve had in a long time. Love between consenting adults is a beautiful thing, and should be celebrated, regardless of sexual orientation. I hope you enjoy reading my stories as much as I love writing them.

KC, we love it when you do! I looked for a picture of us (I swear I’ve got one somewhere) but I couldn’t find it. Suffice it to say, we would have looked absolutely fabulous!

Don’t Forget!

I’m happy to share today that Eddie and Andrew got a couple of really terrific reviews —

One came from Ami at the “Boys In Our Books” review site, who said:

“There is a sign that you are reading a good book … when you cannot put it down. I was not feeling well when I read this, I suffered from stomach flu and had been feeling weak for two days, couldn’t even had the energy to read. But when I received the ARC, once I started, I couldn’t put it down.” (you can read the rest of that review, HERE)

And another came from The Blog of Sid Love, who said:

“It put a smile on my face right at the beginning and I got sucked in to never turn back. We find Eddie fixing his hair, trying to look neat and impressive as he drops his neice off at her school. In Grime and Punishment, we have one of the briefest scenes with Eddie where the guys are giving him a hard time about how he dresses up every time he goes to that school, knowing that there had to be a teacher crush involved. So when I read that first scene with Eddie and his adorable neice, my mind soothed back into full concentration. I knew this was going to be the type of book which I’d read without a halt.” (You can read the rest of Sid’s review, HERE)

On top of that, I got notification that Grime Doesn’t Pay is also an All Romance Ebooks best seller, so I think I little happy dancing is in order!

The  Blog Grime Doesn’t Pay Blog Tour: HERE,  is ongoing and the prizes will be a $20 gift certificate for Loose Id (so you can buy a few nice books for holiday reading, and I’m also giving away 3 iTunes gift cards so readers can download the Grime Doesn’t Pay playlist, here:

So All that’s left, is the dancing!