Guest Author- S.E. Jakes

Welcome to my Reading Nook, SE Jakes. Please make yourself at home and let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink.

Ah, what a perfect welcome!  I’ll take a margarita on the rocks with salt J

Comfortable? Wonderful. Now let’s get started.

To get us started can you tell us a little about what you are working on or have coming out? 

My latest release is Bound For Keeps—it’s book 5 of the Men of Honor series and it came out at the end of February.

They can’t deny the attraction…or the danger…

Since losing their beloved third to cancer, Keith Masters and Johnny Lou Reed haven’t thought about filling the void in their lives with anyone else. Until a stormy Christmas Eve, when a half-frozen, newly discharged Army Ranger shows up on their doorstep—with no memory of who he is or how he got there. 

The former Marine in Keith is suspicious that he can’t turn up any information about Shane anywhere, not even an address. Direct questioning will have to wait until they’ve gotten the boy well.

Shane knows it’s only a matter of time before Keith and Reed figure out his past. And when they learn the depth and the darkness of the secrets he holds, he could get them all killed.

In the heat of the dark winter nights, the three men discover a passion that heals the gaping wounds in their hearts. And Shane wonders, despite the danger hot on his heels, how he will ever bear to leave…

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter Two:

Chapter Two

“What the fuck was that?”

Reed looked up from his computer screen to see Keith scowling at the door. “Probably just the wind.”

“Wind doesn’t sound like that.”

“Animal?” Reed suggested, and Keith peered out the window because yeah, the last thing they needed was a deer running through the cabin looking for shelter from the storm.

“Don’t see anything. Wait…shit.” Keith still moved like a military man, because once a Marine, always a Marine. He opened the door swiftly and Reed came over in time to see a man’s body crumpled on their porch.

The fierce storm blew snow and hail inside as Keith dragged the unconscious man inside. There was no telling what he looked like beyond Caucasian—his hair was covered with snow and he was bundled up, but it was no match for Mother Nature’s wrath.

“Get those clothes off him—I’ll get blankets,” Reed barked, and Keith rolled his eyes like, duh, as he’d already laid the boy down by the fire and had begun stripping the wet clothing off the most likely hypothermic patient.

Reed raced to the bedroom for extra blankets and towels, cranked the heat up in the house and grabbed his medical bag. He’d started out as a medic in the Army and had finished getting his medical degree while still in the service. He’d been out for years now, in a private practice in this small town when he’d settled in with Keith and Bobby.

 Bobby.

The grief ripped through his chest, the pain still so fresh it could bring him to his knees.

You couldn’t save him, but you can save this one.

That got him moving forward. He tossed Keith the blankets as they both knelt over the young man. Now that Keith had brushed some snow off, he could see the light brown color of the boy’s hair. Lifted his lids to check his pupils and was met with green eyes that didn’t focus. He was almost as tall as Reed, was in decent shape but much thinner than someone with his frame should be.

He’d also recently been in a fight. There were bruises on his knuckles and a large bruise on his side—Reed didn’t probe, as the man’s skin would be too sensitive from the hypothermia. Broken or badly bruised, his ribs would still be a bitch to heal.

“Grab me the antibiotic and saline—wrap that in a warm towel,” Reed told Keith, who did so quickly, then returned to searching the man’s clothing while Reed started the warm drip and the antibiotics after he readied an IV.

“Any ID?” he asked as he put the stick-on thermometer on the unconscious man’s forehead and the stethoscope in his own ears and prepped to listen to his chest.

“No, but his name’s Shane Wills and the address is a PO box, according to the junk mail he had stuffed in his pocket.” Keith put the envelopes aside on a table so they wouldn’t get lost. “He’s got some cash, no credit. Nothing else in his pockets.”

“Weird.” Reed sucked his bottom lip as he continued checking Shane over. His temp was ninety-five, and he’d begun to shiver so hard Reed couldn’t keep him still. “Hey Shane—you’re safe. Can you open your eyes for me? Shane?”

At the sound of his name, the young man’s eyes flickered open for a long second and then closed again. They’d been dulled with pain and fever, and Reed was worried.

“I’ll check outside for a bag,” Keith offered as the storm’s intensity increased. “I’d hate to think he had family worried about him on Christmas Eve.”

They’d planned to have a quiet dinner in so they’d had no worries about the storm.

They’d weathered far worse.

Reed pulled the stethoscope out of his ears. “He’s pretty sick on top of the hypothermia—we can’t move him tonight in this weather safely. I’ve got enough antibiotics to get him through—tomorrow, we can see about checking him into the hospital. Forget going outside—take your clothes off.”

Keith’s brow shot up, and Reed just muttered something about him being a horny bastard.

Keith didn’t argue, but he was already stripping down to his boxers. Probably knew that was the way things would go from the beginning—he was practically an honorary doctor after spending so much time with Reed.

Reed stripped too, stoked the fire and laid the comforter down while Keith crawled under the blankets and rolled Shane so Keith was pressed against his naked, shivering body, Shane’s back to his chest. Reed quickly got under the blanket as well and pressed his chest to Shane’s.

“He’s freezing,” Keith grumbled, but Reed noted he’d reached up to feel the boy’s forehead like he could will his temperature back up. His dark eyes were intense, and for that moment, it was the first time Reed and Keith met, on the steps of this very house on a Christmas Eve what seemed like ages ago.

“You still look the same,” Keith murmured, reading his mind as always. “Bullshit.” And still, the man could make him blush.

They’d been together for eight years today, had been in love for most of that time, although for sure it had started with lust.

Nights like tonight reminded them that they were lucky to have one another. Made them miss Bobby too, although Reed suspected that would be an ache that neither man would ever be able to shake.

“You’re thinking too hard,” Keith told him now and Reed shrugged.

“Eight years ago, this was me,” he reminded Keith, who he knew needed no reminding.

“Bobby and I never did this to you.”

“Yeah, but you wanted to.”

Keith smirked and didn’t say anything else for a while.

Suddenly, Shane shifted hard against Reed. Murmured the name Kyle and pressed his lips to Reed’s neck. And then he went still again.

Reed raised a brow at that, suddenly uncomfortably hard himself at the contact. “What happens when he wakes up?”

“He’s either going to freak or he’ll be in heaven,” Keith said with a frown.

“We can’t let him come to like this.”

“I don’t think we’ve got a choice. I just want him to come to.” Reed shifted and felt Shane’s hand move down between their bodies. He looked down to see Shane circle his own cock, murmuring Kyle’s name again as he stroked.

“Is he doing what I think he’s doing?” Keith asked, and Reed breathed, “Yeah.”

“Not a bad way for a man to warm himself up,” Keith said, and the two of them waited, not wanting to do anything inappropriate with him but not wanting to stop him, either.

Under the heavy blanket, Reed began to sweat—he saw Keith had too and checked Shane’s pulse with his free hand. Definitely not thready any longer. No, it was fast.

Shane began to breathe hard against his shoulder, his body shifted, his hips rocking toward Reed’s body as he stoked his broad cock. It was rock hard and hot, blood rushing to the organ and to other parts of the man’s body as well.

There was no way to stop this. Reed saw the look in Keith’s eyes—liquid desire, knew they’d both relive this in their fantasies for a long time to come.

When Shane came, it was with a sharp, keening cry. His eyes remained closed, his breathing sharpened and his skin was slick with sweat.

Mission accomplished.

Shane moved close to Reed, murmured “Kyle” and “missed you” a few more times and then fell back into the depths of the fever.

***

You can purchase Bound For Keeps at:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Keeps-Men-Honor-ebook/dp/B00A8PL3U8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_5

B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bound-for-keeps-se-jakes/1113849703?cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-TnL5HPStwNw-_-10:1&r=1

Samhain:  http://store.samhainpublishing.com/bound-keeps-p-7222.html

ARe:  https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-boundforkeeps-1093418-145.html

How would you describe yourself using only five words? 

Too impatient for instant gratification.

If you could write a warning label for yourself as a person or an author, what would it say? 

Don’t mistake kindness for weakness. 

Do you have any guilty pleasures? 

Tumblr.  But I don’t have guilt about it J

Name one thing readers would be surprised to know about you. 

That I had a really happy childhood.  Mainly because none of my characters ever do!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

Probably Italy, for the food.  Otherwise, I’m pretty happy in New York!

How do you get yourself in the mood to write? 

Honestly, it’s just something that happens.  I write every single day, whether it’s in a notebook or on the computer…it’s not something I can escape.  The stories are always there in my head. I just don’t force it because I have the luxury of writing full time.  If I’m not writing something in the morning, I know I’ll find myself scribbling in the afternoon. 

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing? 

Music!  I love writing to music.  Also, my laptop or notebook.  My daytime is usually full of the business end of writing—emails, blogging, cover consults, etc and also editing of my books. But I find that I get the bulk of the real writing done at night, when everyone’s asleep.  So again, I don’t fight it.  I usually do what I call ‘new writing’ between ten at night and two in the morning.

Who are some of your favorite authors? 

I adore books by LA Witt, Rhys Ford, Kim Dare and Heidi Cullinan.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for? 

Heidi Cullinan’s next book, set within the Special Delivery universe.  Considering it’s still on her computer (she mentioned on Twitter the release would be sometime next year) I’m on pins and needles.  Also, If It Flies, the next Market Garden series book by LA Witt and Aleksandr Voinov.  The series is awesome – and hot J

Is there something special you do to celebrate when one of your books is released? 

I haven’t so far, but I think it’s something I need to cultivate.  I’m usually writing the next book by that point and release day ends up being a (good) blur…but this is a good reminder to stop and really give myself a chance to enjoy what I’ve done.  Maybe a new bag J  I’ll tell my husband you suggested a celebration!

Do you have a favorite TV show you can't miss? 

I like a lot of different shows, but thank God for the DVR J  I just got hooked on Catfish—they were having a marathon last weekend.

If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why-no it doesn't have to be from your books?

Randy from Special Delivery and Double Blind. 

What is the strangest source of writing inspiration you’ve ever had?

Honestly, I think they’re all strange—or would be to other people.  They come from nowhere, it seems, and they’ve been doing that my whole life.  So it all seems normal to me at this point.

If your muse were to talk behind your back, what secrets would he/she tell?

That I’m a royal pain in the ass and that I rely heavily on him (cause mine’s a guy ;)

Anything else you want to add? 

I love hanging out and dishing books with readers!  You can find me at the links below, so stop by and say hi!

You can comment on my blog at SEJakes.com.

You can email me at authorsejakes@gmail.com

You can post to my Facebook page: Facebook.com/SEJakes

You can Twitter me: Twitter.com/authorsejakes

You can post on my Goodreads Group:  Ask SE Jakes  (or friend me – I write reviews for books I’ve especially loved)

You can follow my Tumblr page:  sejakes.tumblr.com