Strip
Tease
Down
and Dirty
Angelique
Voisen
Genre:
Gay Contemporary
Publisher:
All Romance eBooks
Date
of Publication: 12/1/2016
ISBN:
978-1-945193-78-1
ASIN:
B01MRHFMT7
Word
Count: 22000
Cover
Artist: Erin Dameron Hill
Book
Description:
How
can the normal guy and the sexy male stripper make it work?
Dirk
Thompson thought he found his one and only…then his husband cheats
on him. Heartsick, lonely, and full of anger, Dirk can’t find the
courage to move on until he meets Ken.
It’s
not like Dirk to take a wild ride with a stranger, but Ken strips him
bare and turns his world upside down.
Excerpt:
Two huge guys
cramped in a tiny studio wasn’t the most ideal situation, Dirk
knew. But he couldn’t bear to live in and wake up to an empty
apartment. Without realizing it, Dirk had gotten used to Warren’s
scent.
Oh, he’d seen
evidence of Warren’s infidelity—a man’s unfamiliar shirt or
boxers left behind under their bed, or a pack of cigarettes on the
living room coffee table when neither Warren nor he smoked. The signs
had all been there, yet Dirk had chosen to ignore them.
Now, Dirk shot
Luther a glare and sighed. There was no use arguing with him.
Sometimes Dirk knew he didn’t deserve such a loyal friend. “Don’t
take this too badly, but I’ve relied on you my entire life. I need
to do this myself, to prove to myself I can be strong, too.”
Luther gave his arm
a squeeze. “Don’t believe for a fucking second you aren’t.
You’re the strongest, kindest, and most stubborn guy I know.”
“Remind me again
why we aren’t dating?” Dirk teased to lighten the mood.
“Because I’m a
man whore and you’re a slob? Jokes notwithstanding, I get it, I
think.” Luther turned to leave, but paused. “If you’re ready to
move on, I know a good-looking, down-on-his-luck, underwear model
who’s recently broken up.”
“I don’t think I
can handle a new relationship right now,” Dirk confessed.
Besides, he’d
stopped agreeing to blind dates set up by Luther a long time ago, and
not because the guys Luther picked were duds. Hell, they were perfect
in their own way, all viable matches. No, the reason he’d stopped
agreeing to blind dates of any kind is because he—awkward and shy
Dirk—was the one who always ruined everything.
“Who said anything
about relationships? Those take work.” Luther shook his head. “If
you’re up for some wild and dirty sex—sex and nothing else—tell
me and I’ll set it up.”
With those parting
words, Luther left Dirk alone to his thoughts and his self-inflicted
misery.
The office emptied
out. With a heavy heart, Dirk pulled the black garbage bag from his
drawer. Could he really dump those photos?
“Should I?” he
asked, feeling foolish talking to himself.
His fingertip
lingered on the nearest frame, a photo of his first date with Warren.
Warren had taken him downtown, to a Mexican restaurant and then to a
club. Even convinced him to dance, and it took all of Dirk’s
courage to join Warren on the floor. Dirk ended up looking like a
fish out of water, but Warren had only laughed, kissing him. Dirk
remembered Warren had tasted like beer and something spicy, and
something else…life. Warren had blown his mind, and every date
after that, Dirk had wondered why Warren hung around.
Dirk was the sort of
guy who preferred quiet dates, watching movies at home, and
snuggling. They never really belonged together—or had their
differences made them click?
Think about the last
time you saw Warren. Not hard to conjure up the image of him walking
in on Warren and Harlan in their marital bed, He remembered thinking
how much they looked like animals in heat. Warren had never showed
that much passion whenever Dirk rode him. But Warren and Harlan had
never stopped fucking, didn’t even notice Dirk standing there,
staring, until rage tinted his vision red and he snapped. Dirk tore
Harlan and Warren apart. Power surged through him then, the promise
of more violence. Dirk would have happily beaten Harlan to a pulp,
until Warren’s sharp and hysterical voice froze him in place—“Stop!
If you don’t, I’ll leave you.”
Anger issues. His
therapist said he’d always had them, but now, Dirk had the body
strength to use all that anger against another person.
Warren had left
anyway, and Dirk felt like a monster for having lost control like
that. For a pacifist who swore to never hurt anyone or to use his
strength for his self-serving selfishness, Dirk easily turned sides
without blinking.
Now, when Dirk
looked back at the frame in his hands, he realized he’d broke it.
Tossing the memento into the garbage bag hurt like hell, like someone
had shoved a knife into his heart and twisted it for good measure.
Getting rid of the second photo went easier. The rest followed.
Clutching the
garbage bag, Dirk rose to his feet. Throwing away the bag in the
workplace was no good. Dirk knew himself. He’d crawl through the
damn garbage chute to retrieve the damn thing in the middle of the
night. Heading out of the office instead, he glanced at the time.
Still another thirty-minutes to waste. He could have done this
anytime, after work maybe, but having a time limit helped.
Entering the
elevator and pushing the button for the ground floor, Dirk thought he
was alone until he noticed the lean young man watching him from the
corner. Surprised, Dirk nearly jumped.
“What the fuck?”
he growled.
“I didn’t mean
to scare you, handsome. I just noticed you seemed a little down.”
Dirk blinked. No one
had ever called him “handsome.” Studying the young man a little
closer, Dirk swallowed and immediately regretted his earlier words.
The guy didn’t look intimidated or scared. If anything, he appeared
more interested and began eyeing Dirk up and down.
Things like this
didn’t happen to Dirk. Did throwing away the last reminders of his
time with Warren manage to induce delusions? Worse, did someone pay
this young man to play some kind of elaborate joke on him?
Since the stranger
seemed unembarrassed to ogle Dirk like he was some kind of steak,
Dirk stared rudely, too.
This stranger was
damn gorgeous, and a little out of place in a corporate office. Lean,
but taut with muscle, the stranger had a runner’s build and looked
easy on the eyes. He wore tight skinny jeans, leather shoes, and a
battered leather jacket and nothing else underneath. No shirt or
anything. Bits of something metallic shone on his chest.
Was that glitter?
The guy kept his
dark-hair short, making it hard to glance away from the most amazing
pair of brown eyes—amber, nearly gold in the elevator’s light.
The stranger winked
at Dirk. Brave little guy.
Wait. He winked at
me?
“Bad day?” he
asked.
“The fucking
worst.” How Dirk managed to keep a straight face, let alone answer,
he didn’t know. He was usually uncomfortable with guys he was
attracted to. Better yet, he applauded himself on not scaring off the
stranger with awkward words.
“Tell me about it.
My day went from bad to horrible, too.” When Dirk raised one
eyebrow, the stranger shrugged. “I forget corporate types don’t
tip well.”
“Tip well? What
are you, a waiter?”
The guy seemed
delighted by the question. Shit. Dirk didn’t want this conversation
to end, but the elevator finally reached the ground floor.
“Even better—”
The guy didn’t finish explaining because someone called to him.
“Hey! You!”
“I hope we’ll
meet again, handsome,” the guy said to Dirk. With another wink, he
broke into a sprint.
Dirk got out of the
elevator to see the building’s forty-something security guard chase
after him, panting. The urge to chase after the stranger rose in Dirk
also. Being in tip-top shape, catching up would be no problem.
Telling off that silly security guard wouldn’t be a problem either.
Wait. Why get so
protective over some handsome stranger he’d just met?
Dirk breathed in and
out, leashing his anger. Once the notion died and he calmed down,
Dirk stared at the bag in his hand a couple of seconds,
uncomprehending, forgetting what he had set out to do in the first
place.
“Disposal. Right,”
he muttered.
Dirk walked through
the lobby, still abuzz with the chase. Judging by the dejected look
of the security guard returning to his post, the dark-haired stranger
had obviously escaped.
So why did Dirk care
about some stranger who didn’t wear a shirt? Was shirt out of
fashion with kids these days? Well, the guy was certainly an adult,
but nineteen or early twenties still felt too young to Dirk, himself
pushing thirty and still a mess. No wonder Warren had left him.
I’ve got to stop
thinking negative thoughts.
At least the
gossiping crowd in the lobby was proof Dirk hadn’t imagined the
whole thing in his head. Going back to his therapist after she’d
signed him off—after his latest anger debacle at nearly strangling
Harlan to death—was a huge no-no.
“Let’s get on
with this,” he muttered, exiting the office building and heading
for the park. If he hurried, he might be able to buy a sandwich on
his way back.
About
the Author:
Angelique
Voisen is a bisexual, twenty-something, type-2 diabetic writer who
favors GLBT pairings. She likes experimenting with different
sub-genres and her stories may include cogs, fangs, space battles,
kinky magic systems and happily-ever-afters.
Author
website: http://angelvoisen.blogspot.com/
Author
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/angelique.voisen
Author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/frances_ac
Author
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/angelvoisen/
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