It’s RElease Day!
TITLE: He Owns My Heart
SERIES: Owned Heart, Body, & Soul Trilogy
GENRE: Contemporary MM Erotic Romance
RELEASE DATE: Tuesday, August 11, 2020
PUBLISHER: Clandesdyne
Available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited
available today!
Only true love can free a captive heart.
Landon Jenks, retired four-time Golden Glove-winning shortstop for the Chicago Cubs, is lonely, heartbroken, and in need of simple human contact. Trapped in the sticky fine print of an ironclad contract that forbids him from revealing his very-much-single status until the season finale of his reality show airs, he calls an elite male escort service that caters to the rich and desperate.
Accustomed to servicing his often less than savory clients at more upscale locales, twenty-six-year-old Toby Carmichael is surprised when his handler sends him to a run-down motel off I-55. But “surprise” doesn’t come close to describing the shock that rocks his system when a delightful stuttering mess covered in tattoos and nearly ten years his senior stumbles into the room—and right into his heart.
For the first time since Toby was forced into the life of prostitution, a kiss sparks a desire that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with genuine chemistry and the faintest beginnings of something so much more. But Toby’s dark past and troubled present make it impossible to see a future with Landon. And when the truth comes to light, a horrified and helpless Landon is determined to save Toby at all costs.
Teaser Excerpt
Landon’s alarm went off at half past six the next morning, and he groused under his breath as his hand shot out to smack at the offending device. When Toby yawned and stretched away—assuming the alarm meant Landon planned to get up—Landon latched on to Toby’s bicep and tugged him into a snuggle hold.
“Where d’ya think yer goin’?” Landon slurred, planting a firm hand on Toby’s bare ass. “Mine. Y’can’t leave.”
Toby chuckled and burrowed deeper into Landon’s arms. “I wasn’t going anywhere, but your alarm went off. I figured you had to get up.”
Landon harrumphed. “Tha’ thing’s the devil.”
“What is, the alarm?”
Nodding, Landon’s jaw cracked on a yawn. “Gonna throw it away.”
Toby grinned against Landon’s neck. His cranky, decidedly-not-a-morning-person attitude was downright too cute for words. “You’re gonna throw your alarm clock away? How will you make sure you get up on time?”
“Won’t.” Landon squeezed Toby’s butt. “Gonna stay in bed forever.”
A deep belly laugh worked its way up Toby’s throat. “Oh, is that so? Gonna skirt your responsibilities and become a hermit?”
Landon nodded again and bucked his hips. “Got better things to do. Gonna spend every minute with you.”
Toby’s chest squeezed, and he inhaled a shaky breath. How he wished that were true. For this week, maybe, but after that?
Landon couldn’t keep buying Toby’s freedom indefinitely. He wouldn’t let him. Couldn’t let him. Despite Landon’s valiant intentions, Toby wouldn’t be free until his contract was up. There was no getting around it. His family’s lives were worth far more than his, and he wouldn’t do anything to put them in jeopardy. Not even for Landon.
The alarm blared again. Landon growled but made no move to shut it off. Instead, he snuggled in closer to Toby and yanked the covers over both their heads, only slightly muffling the obnoxious noise.
“Fuck. You’re adorable.” Toby grinned into the darkness of their blanket cave and placed a smacking kiss against Landon’s neck.
“I’m not adorable,” Landon grumbled, giving Toby’s ass another firm squeeze. “Puppies and five-year-olds with blond curls and lollipops are adorable. I’m a man. A man nearly a decade older than you. Didn’t your parents teach you to respect your elders?”
“Too manly and geriatric to be adorable. Gotcha.” Toby bit his lip to fend off his laughter. “But you’re still really fuckin’ cute.”
Stillness… and a beeping alarm. For a good thirty seconds, that’s all Toby heard. Landon didn’t move or speak. Then he tossed off the covers with a growl and pounced on Toby, pinning him to the mattress and glaring him down with sleepy, grumpy eyes. His hair stood on end, and several red creases spread from beneath his thick beard where his cheek had lain against the pillow. Fuckin’ adorable.
“You’re gonna pay for that.” Landon’s voice was no longer slurred, but it retained that husky morning quality.
Toby bucked his hips and laughed when that unexpected jolt was enough to send Landon flailing, his lax, sleep-heavy arms giving out and landing him sprawled over Toby’s chest, his face buried in the pillow.
Landon shoved onto an elbow, sputtering and rubbing his face. He scowled at Toby. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Just trying to wake you up a bit, slugger. I figured an all-star ballplayer like you would have a bit more balance than that. I barely jostled you, and you went flying.” Toby tried to keep a straight face, but the laughter won out. “Hope you didn’t break a hip in the fall, Gramps. Although,” Toby drew out the word, tapping his chin in thought, “you’d totally rock the walker look. Dare I say? You’d be totes adorbs.”
“Oh. My. God.” Landon gave an exaggerated eye roll and shoved Toby’s shoulder so hard he rolled off his chest, tangling himself in the covers in the process.
As Landon tried to extricate his thrashing limbs from the burrito of blankets he’d created, Toby took the opportunity to zero in on one of the ticklish spots he’d discovered the other night. As soon as his wiggling fingers met the side of Landon’s ribs, Landon howled and kicked more furiously at the covers to free himself.
“Uncle!” Landon cried as he surfaced from the snarl of sheets and blankets, gasping for breath. “Uncle, uncle, uncle!”
Toby chortled and bounced out of bed to avoid Landon’s retaliatory lunge, then glanced back and laughed even harder. Landon was collapsed on his belly, his arms stretched out vainly toward the spot Toby had vacated, and a confused, disappointed frown marred those gorgeous features.
“Turn off that damn alarm—off, not snooze—and meet me in the shower.” Toby headed for the bathroom, tossing a smirk over his shoulder. “You have until the water gets warm to join me or you don’t get to come.”
Before Toby could even flick on the bathroom light, the incessant beeping had stopped and Landon’s sleep-warm, deliciously naked body pressed against his back. Toby chuckled and placed his arms over Landon’s, which wrapped gently around Toby’s bruised ribs. “There’s the Turbo we all know and love.”
Landon gave the tenderest of squeezes around Toby’s middle and brushed a kiss over the back of his neck. “We have plans to go sightseeing today. No way in hell am I threatening those plans by being a pent-up, horn-ball mess. I’m begging you, let me come. For the sake of our day. You can do anything else you want to me… Just, please, let me come.”
Toby grinned and turned in Landon’s arms, planting an innocent kiss over his pouting lips. “We haven’t had our talk yet. I don’t plan to do anything other than make you feel very, very, very good. You have my word.”
Landon grabbed Toby’s wrist and tugged him straight to the shower. He slammed on the water before rounding on Toby and pulling him in for a ferocious kiss.
Oh yes, Toby would make Landon feel good. But not half as good as he made Toby feel simply by existing.
