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Hostile Beauty by Vanessa North

Recluse Andrew Eccleston wants revenge on the man who destroyed his face twenty years ago, Winnie Wexford--a vindictive state senator not above a smear campaign against Andrew. Andrew's grateful for the help of his erstwhile brother-in-law, David, until the help turns up in the form of PR guru Levi Beaumont, Andrew's every fantasy come to life.

Levi is beautiful, smart, and righteous. When his mentor, David asks him to take on a difficult client for the PR firm, Levi agrees, in spite of a very real risk to his career working with non-profits to get them the attention they deserve. He knows facing off against a powerful politician could destroy his career, but he agrees out of loyalty to his mentor. Andrew and Levi are thrown into tense proximity as they work to protect Andrew and expose Wexford.

As Andrew opens his tightly-guarded private life to Levi, hostility turns to respect, respect to passion, and the stakes go much deeper than career or reputation.

Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Content/Theme(s): M/M, GLBT
Release Date: October 18, 2013
Publisher: Musa Publishing

Excerpt & More

Purchase links: Musa Amazon ARe B&N

Excerpt:
Andrew felt as though all the oxygen had been sucked out of the small vehicle hurtling through town, taken aback by the words Levi had so casually uttered. He fisted his hands at his side rather than reach across the seat to pull the younger man into a fierce embrace. Surely that fumbling kiss, that awkward caress, had been meant as comfort. There was no way someone like Levi Beaumont could want him.

Andrew knew what he looked like: old and ruined, every bad decision he’d ever made evident on his face and his body. Whereas Levi…his innocence, his idealism, and yes, damn it, his beauty, they shone out of him so brightly it was breathtaking. No, there was no way that kiss had been anything more than pity.

But that didn’t quell the fire inside Andrew. He wanted. Having felt the firm touch of Levi’s lips against his own, Andrew was done for. Want reared up inside him, demanding.

The first years, after the accident, he hadn’t even been able to get an erection. Even a decade later, he’d not wanted sex so much as he had occasionally felt stirred up enough to rub one out in the shower. By the time he’d remembered what his dick was really for, celibacy had become a habit, and his privacy was more important than getting off.

Intimacy was a stranger.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds.” Levi’s voice was quiet as he pulled into the parking garage and took his usual spot. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Levi.” Andrew’s voice was strange to his own ears, so rough and haggard.

“Yes, I do. I don’t know what came over me. You aren’t—”

“I’m not what?”

“Like me.” Levi glanced up, eyes widened by fear. It hurt, after the morning that they had spent together, to see fear in Levi’s face when he looked at Andrew. “I understand if you want to ask David to send someone else to work with you, but please don’t tell him I kissed you. He’ll fire me for sure for kissing a client.”

“Wait, why would I tell David to send someone else? You’re doing a fine job, Levi. And I would be hard pressed to have you fired for kissing me when I’d just explained how hard-up for affection I’d been.” Andrew felt warmth spilling over him. “As for ‘like you,’ do you mean gay?”

“You knew? I mean, before I groped you? Shit.” Levi’s face turned bright red.

“Levi, most people, when they meet me, will look anywhere but my face. They don’t want to see the scars. But they don’t look up and down my body as though wondering how far down the scars go either.”

Levi choked out a laugh. “I didn’t think I was so obvious about it.”

“I’m a little sensitive about my appearance, Levi. I notice when another man…doesn’t matter. Yeah, I’m gay. I’m also not the kind of guy to take advantage of your pity. But thank you for giving an old man a little spark.”

“It wasn’t…” Levi started to speak, then growled off the end of the sentence. “It wasn’t pity, and you aren’t old. Fuck, Andrew.”

Levi dove across the seat then, and Andrew found himself seized by indecision and Levi together. One strong hand was buried in the hair behind his head, the other gripped his shoulder, and this time Levi kissed him for real.

Shuddering, Andrew opened his lips and simply tasted Levi. All that youth and beauty and everything lovely slipping between his lips, teeth nipping. The roughness of stubble, chin to chin, something he’d never thought to feel again, no matter how he craved it. A low growl rose in Levi’s throat, vibrating into Andrew’s mouth. Andrew stroked his hands up Levi’s back, marveling at the strength he felt in those slender shoulders. He buried his fingers in Levi’s hair, feeling for just a moment that crazy-hot sweetness that boiled up in him. Lust.

Getting a hand between their bodies, Andrew pushed Levi away. “No. We’re not doing this.”

Andrew’s gaze followed the hard line of Levi’s Adam’s apple as it bobbed in his throat. He swallowed back the rough desire to trace it with his tongue, not sure which he would regret more—pushing Levi away, or tugging him closer.
~~~~~~
Purchase links: Musa Amazon ARe B&N

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