Wood, Screws, and Nails : Blog Tour

April 25, 2014 by Pip

We, at LYLBTB, are delighted to welcome Piper Vaughn and Kade Boehme today on their Wood, Screws, and Nails Blog Tour! They have brought along an excerpt and a giveaway to share with us – so please join us in giving them a big welcome!

Hi, all! Piper here. 🙂 Thanks to Live Your Life, Buy The Book for having me today. I had a release come out on the 23^rd, and I just wanted to pop by to share an excerpt and offer people the opportunity to enter the “Wood, Screws, & Nails” giveaway.

“Wood, Screws, & Nails” is the story of Aaron Costa, who’s been tasked with remodeling his parents’ lake house over the summer. He’d intended to do the renovations along with his best friend/co-worker, Blake, but when Blake is injured playing street hockey, Aaron is forced to reevaluate his plans. He thinks the summer might be a good opportunity to bond with his son, who he hasn’t spent much time with over the last few years, so he offers Julian the job. Julian, in turn, asks if his roommate, Malachi, can come along. And from there, things get complicated pretty fast.

I hope you’ll check out the story! It’s a bit of a May-December romance featuring hot, sweaty men, tool belts, as you can probably guess from the title, plenty carpentry innuendo. 😉 Check out the sneak peek below, and be sure to enter the contest for a chance at a $20 dollar gift card or one of two chances at a free copy of the ebook!

Excerpt

A week and a half later, Malachi and Julian were in Lake Geneva. After breezing through the last of his finals, Malachi was more than ready to see the end of his third year. One more and he’d have his bachelors in education and be able to start scouring the internet for teaching jobs throughout Illinois. Maybe even look into teaching English in Brazil for a while. First, he needed a few months off. Weird that he considered doing house renovations a break, but all things considered, he actually liked working with his hands. A sense of accomplishment came with manual labor that he never got in all his hours of studying and clinicals. Maybe that would change once he was out in the world, running his own classroom. He hoped so. The student teaching he’d be doing next fall would decide that one way or the other.

“This is it,” Julian announced.

“Whoa.” Malachi’s eyes widened as Julian turned his car onto a long gravel driveway and he took in the large, plantation-style house at the end. “You didn’t tell me this place was practically a mansion.”

Julian snorted as he pulled to a stop behind a large black truck, the type of heavy-duty, high horsepower affair some men bought just for show. Malachi knew Julian’s father must’ve purchased it as much for its practicality as any aesthetic appeal. The tailgate sat open, and the bed showed wear and tear—scratches, dirt, signs of actual use. A paint-spattered aluminum ladder rested next to a couple of folded up tarps, several cans of primer, and a scuffed-up utility chest. It was a working man’s truck, and it showed. Malachi approved.

“It’s not a mansion. Just my grandma’s way of pretending to be Scarlett O’Hara every summer. I’m surprised she wants to sell it. She used to be obsessed with that movie.”

“Well, it’s huge. Maybe it’s just too much to maintain now.”

“Yeah, maybe. Kind of a bummer they’re getting rid of it, though. I haven’t been up here in years, but I used to come up with my dad every June, right after school let out. We had some fun times here.”

Malachi smiled slightly. Julian’s default mode was set to sarcasm, and he didn’t often talk about his father, but Malachi got the impression Julian admired the man. There was fondness in his voice whenever he spoke of his dad, though Malachi was certain Julian didn’t know it. Not for the first time, he wondered what’d happened to split Julian’s parents up. When they’d talked about it one drunken weeknight their sophomore year, Julian had seemed equally curious. Only one thing had been clear—it was obviously a sore spot, and Malachi hadn’t felt it was his place to dig for more information.

Julian unlocked his door and got out of the car. Malachi followed suit, trailing behind as Julian made his way to the open trunk. He reached in for his own duffel bag after Julian had removed his and slammed the trunk shut, staring up at the house. Mansion or not, it was impressive, with tall white columns, big windows, and a wide, wraparound porch. Maybe the exterior paint needed updating, as well as the cracked walkway and neglected landscaping, but it was the sort of place his parents could only dream of ever owning, imposing enough that unexpected nerves made his palms sweat. Then, of course, came the irritation with himself for getting nervous.

What the hell is my problem? Malachi knew his rank in the social stratosphere, and typically, he didn’t give a shit that other people had more money or purchased vacation homes more expensive than the only house his parents owned or that going into teaching would mean he’d likely be stuck in the lower-middle class for the rest of his life. It didn’t bother him. He could go to med school if he wanted to earn a lot of money he might never have time to spend. So maybe his sudden anxiety had more to do with the bare-chested man who’d just come down the porch steps and now strode toward them. The man who looked an awful lot like Julian, dark-eyed and olive skinned, except with broader shoulders, a light smattering of chest hair, and a muscular physique sculpted by hard work, not hours lifting weights in a gym. Sweat gleamed on naked skin, and his well-worn jeans clung to him in a way that left Malachi with no doubt that the man packed a cock hefty enough to complement all that muscle.

“Hey,” Mr. Costa said as he reached them. He pulled Julian into a brief hug, which Julian instantly cringed away from.

“Dude! You’re sweaty as hell!”

Mr. Costa laughed and released him. “Sorry. I have the windows open because I’ve been in and out. It’s roasting in there. I just took a break to have a glass of tea with Greg a few minutes ago.” He turned to Malachi and held out a hand. “Thanks for coming. I hope the drive wasn’t too bad.”

Malachi tried to swallow around the lump of cotton that had somehow lodged itself in his throat. He accepted the handshake and fought hard not to think about how little he’d mind being covered in this man’s sweat.

Can’t wait to see if you win the contest?

Buy Wood, Screws, & Nails directly from Dreamspinner.

Also available at Amazon I Barnes & Noble I and ARe.

Blurb

Aaron Costa’s summer was all planned. Despite having to remodel the family lake house, it would be a vacation of sorts, and he had every intention of enjoying it—until the friend who was supposed to help him got injured and left him in a lurch. He decides to take the opportunity to bond with his son and hires Julian and his roommate, Malachi, to assist.

As a broke college student, Malachi could use the money, and spending the summer with Aaron for eye candy sounds like a dream. Look but don’t touch becomes his motto. But when Julian starts flaking on his responsibilities and Malachi and Aaron are forced to spend long hours alone together, their mutual attraction is impossible to resist.

Aaron can’t fight the temptation sexy Malachi presents. But more than their age difference stands in their way, not the least of which is Aaron’s semi-closeted status and the fact that he’s never openly discussed his sexuality with his son. He has no idea how Julian will react when he learns his father is not only gay, he’s also dating his best friend.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Piper

Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a two thousand book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life…even if it’s only in a book.

Kade

Kade Boehme is a southern boy without the charm, but all the sass. Currently residing in Seattle, he lives off of ramen noodles and too much booze.

He is “the epitomy of dorkdom”, only watching TV when Rachel Maddow or one of his sports teams is on. (That’d be Orioles, Seahwaks, Ravens, or Gators.) Most of his free time is spent dancing, arguing politics or with his nose in a book. He is also a hardcore Britney Spears fangirl and has an addiction to glitter.

It was after writing a short story about boys who loved each other for a less than reputable adult website that he found his true calling, and hopefully a bit more class.

He hopes to write about all the romance that he personally finds himself allergic to but that others can fall in love with. He maintains that life is real and the stories should be, as well. 

Contest

$20 Gift Card (See Rafflecopter for Details)

E-copy of Wood, Screws & Nails (Two Winners)

And be sure to follow the rest of the tour!!

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