Hello, all –

I can hardly believe it but Wake is out in general release–grab a copy at Amazon!

Wake’s sequel, Calm, will be out in August, by the way–not long now! 

I’m sharing another teaser on this fine Tuesday, which you’ll find under the cut:

“’m I doin’ the right thing?” Carter slurred, while Riley lowered him onto the bed. Riley froze with Carter’s arm locked around his neck and their faces inches apart. God, how many times have we been in this position? Riley wondered. He reached up, unwound his friend’s arm and sat back, but left his hand pressed against the front of Carter’s shirt for a moment, enjoying the heat of his body underneath. 

“What do you mean?” he asked hoarsely. 

He started to pull away, but Carter reached up and covered Riley’s hand with his own, his long fingers holding it in place. 

“Mar-marrying Kate,” Carter said thickly, hazel eyes dazed and glassy. They appeared especially dark right then, more brown than their usual greenish hue. Riley breathed shallowly, the words heavy on his tongue. He wanted so badly to tell him no, make him doubt what he was doing. The sight of Carter sprawled on his bed and the feel of their clasped hands made a spot in Riley’s chest ache. All night he’d been fighting his feelings for Carter, struggling to be happy for his friend, trying not to let anyone see his secret. 

Here in private, Carter was giving him the chance to speak up. Perhaps Carter was ambivalent on some level about marrying Kate. He knew Carter loved her, but maybe some part of him was as conflicted as Riley. Riley could feel the words on his tongue and knew his friend well enough to suspect that if Riley told him he shouldn’t marry Kate, he wouldn’t go through with it the following day. But wasn’t that delaying the inevitable? Because Carter would marry. Eventually he’d give in to the pressure of his family’s expectations and marry someone. 

Why not Kate? His toast to the couple at the rehearsal dinner earlier had been true. There was no woman in the world better for Carter than Kate. As much as Riley wanted to return to the times when they’d been in college—when they’d been friends who lived together and shared a woman between them—they could never go back. The vague, nebulous want inside Riley never seemed to coalesce into something concrete. He wanted Carter, but what did that mean? And what did he have to offer him? 

Riley stared at his friend, watching Carter’s unfocused, almost hopeful gaze. Riley felt the beat of Carter’s heart through the soft, polished cotton shirt under his palm and he ached, wanting to tell his friend to call off the wedding. 

But the answer to his earlier question was nothing. Riley had nothing to offer Carter. He couldn’t give him the life and family he wanted, couldn’t give Carter the chance to make his family proud. Hell, Riley didn’t even know what he wanted or if he could ever give Carter what he deserved. With his fucked-up family, maybe he wasn’t even capable of caring about Carter like Kate would.

Carter would be happier married to Kate and Riley knew it was the right choice for his friend. For both of them. With Carter married, Riley could make his parents happy by finally settling down with a woman. He could stop wasting his life wishing for something that would never happen. 

“Yeah, buddy, it’s the right thing,” he lied, feeling the weight of the words close over him, like the thud of a door slamming shut. He could never take them back.

Wake is available for early download at

Pride Publishing. I’m excited, in case you couldn’t tell. 😀 

Wake is book one in the Tidal series

Carter Hamilton and Riley Porter-Wright room together as Harvard undergraduates. An immediate friendship forms, but as the years pass it deepens into something neither man understands. As attraction simmers under the surface, lines begin to blur. When they move back to Manhattan, they gradually slip into the lives their families have envisioned for them.

Both men marry, but in time, Riley realizes he’s ended up in a passionless relationship like his parents’ while his career takes center stage. Although he loves his wife, Carter misses the emotional and physical connection he shared with Riley.

The weight of Riley’s feelings and his growing discontentment with his life eventually push him to tell Carter the truth about how he feels. Shocked and unable to face his own feelings, Carter rejects Riley.

As each man comes to terms with the lies they’ve told themselves, each other and the people around them, they find their lives changing in ways they never imagined. They soon discover that the truths they’ve been longing to tell shake the foundations of their friendship.

Pride Publishing (Early Download) | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Publisher: Pride Publishing

Calm, the sequel to Wake, will be available to pre-order in August 2017 

Please enjoy this teaser under the cut as well as links to blog tour stops for multiple chances to win the $25 Amazon gift card we’re offering:

Carter sighed. “What about the lecture?”

“We can get the notes from someone else.” Riley grabbed Carter’s bag and waved at him to stand. “Get your ass up, Carter,” he muttered. “I’m not in the mood to carry you. You’re all tall and gangly and I’m not awake enough to deal with it.”

A couple of hours later, Riley’s bossy attitude had ceased to bother Carter. He was floating on a haze of muscle relaxant and sitting on the edge of his bed while his friend clattered around the bathroom.

“How do you feel?” Riley asked when he emerged, holding towels and a bottle of what appeared to be hand lotion.

“I don’t feel much,” Carter replied, smiling slowly while Riley scoffed. “No, really, I don’t feel anything. I’m kind of… I don’t know, wobbly.”

“Wobbly, huh?” Riley shook his head and grinned. “You’re so stoned, dude.” Putting everything down on the bed, Riley helped Carter take off his jacket, then knelt to pull off his sneakers.

Carter closed his eyes and the world spun slightly. “Oh. Yep.” He hummed and opened one eye to peer at his friend after a touch on the buttons of his shirt. “What’s going on?”

“The doc said some light massage would help with the muscle spasms,” Riley told him. He unbuttoned Carter’s shirt, then waited for him to lift his arms so he could ease it off Carter’s shoulders. “I can do that for you.”

Carter said nothing and let Riley help him out of his sweatpants. His drug-fuzzed brain was still processing the words ‘massage’ and ‘do that for you’ as Riley covered the mattress with a towel.

“Lie down, Car.”

Easing himself clumsily onto the bed, Carter lay with his head pillowed on his forearms. Two big, slick hands began moving over his neck and upper back, flooding his body with warmth, rubbing soothing circles into his skin, turning his already loosened muscles to mush.

“Jesus.” His voice was a low rumble in his chest and he struggled to open his eyes.

“Hold still, Car—I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

“I know,” Carter murmured. He lay boneless while Riley set his muscles ablaze. His body responded and he groaned, his cock growing hard.

Those capable hands moved steadily lower over Carter’s muscles, soothing knots that he hadn’t known were there. He grunted when Riley’s palms slid underneath the waistband of his boxer briefs. Talented fingers trailed fire across the base of his spine, making him shiver, and he sighed as lips pressed gently over his shoulders and neck. He’d nearly fallen asleep when a weight settled beside him at last, slipping one arm around his waist.

We hope you enjoy the book and if you can, please take a moment to rate and review it on Pride Publishing and Goodreads!

In addition, be sure to stop by the three stops on our book blitz for multiple chances to win the $25 Amazon gift card we’re offering!

Diverse Reader

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Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words