Guest Post & Giveaway: A Forced Silence by Cate Ashwood

Thank you so much for having me today! I am so excited to be here to talk about my new release, A Forced Silence. I wanted to give you a little backstory on how the book came to be.

So, to date, I have published nine novels and four novellas. A Forced Silence is the first book I ever wrote. Sort of.

When I was first toying with the idea of trying to write, A Forced Silence was the story that popped into my head. I wrote the first two chapters and lost steam. It wasn’t working. I started another book, which would later become Brokenhearted. I wrote the first chapter and lost steam. It wasn’t working. I put them both aside and wrote Keeping Sweets, start to finish. That would become my first ever published (and completed) book.

In between then and now there have been more, but A Forced Silence is finally going to see the light of day. In the four years since I began the story, it has changed and evolved to a point where it’s barely recognizable as the same book it started out as. (In the original, Sam was a history teacher, it was a single novel, and there was no crime element to it.)

The final version is a bit darker, and the storyline more complex than I was capable of writing at the time. I am happy I waited. I think the book is better for it, but the characters have waited long enough.

 

Blurb:

For paramedic Adam Carson, his world is lights and sirens and saving lives. Pressures at work keep him firmly in the closet, and life is too busy to contend with the complications that come with dating and relationships. When a familiar face from his past turns up where he least expects it, Adam starts to question whether or not there is room in his life for those complications.

The last person forensic pathologist Sam McKenna expects to see at pub night is Adam, the guy who made his life hell in high school. The attraction is instant, but Adam isn’t gay and Sam has no interest in pursuing him. Still, the leftover animosity from their teenage years isn’t enough to extinguish the lust growing between them. After both are called to the scene of a horrific murder, Adam admits he’s not as straight as he led Sam to believe and they seek comfort and distraction in each other’s arms. One night becomes many as the murder investigation intensifies, but when Adam is faced with losing Sam, he is forced to make a choice: to break his silence, or to give up everything for the job he loves.

 

Excerpt:

Sam began to feel a bit queasy. He attributed the feeling to alcohol and not to the way the woman was running her hands up and down Adam’s biceps, dragging the material of his T-shirt up to reveal smooth skin covering the tightly toned muscles underneath.

It felt like the walls were moving closer, the air thicker, the temperature rising. He should get up, leave the bar, or step outside get some air at least. Just as Sam was bracing himself to stand and push through the wall of warm bodies blocking him from the front door, Mandy grabbed Adam’s hand and spoke, her voice low and gravelly.

“Dance with me.”

Adam glanced back at Sam. His body language was muted as he turned and followed the girl into the mass of people simulating partially clothed sex. Sam watched him walk behind her before swinging her around and into his arms on the edge of the dance floor. He pulled her close to him, one hand splayed wide on her lower back, fingers dipping slightly beneath the fabric. He pulled her hair over her shoulder, whispering something into her ear that made her laugh.

Sam wanted to turn away, wanted to run, but Adam hadn’t taken his eyes off him since they started dancing. His stare held Sam helplessly in place as he watched Adam sway with the woman in his arms. He watched him as he felt the heat rising up his throat, sure that the blush staining his cheeks would be obvious to anyone who happened to look his way. He still couldn’t move. He was stuck.

It was so wrong. He felt the flash of jealousy as Adam’s hands moved up and down her spine, tracing the lines of her back, her ass. Sam’s breath was coming in slow pants, imagining what it would feel like to have those hands on him, tracing up and down his back, his ass.

The steady beat of the music thrummed through his body, and he could almost imagine he was the one Adam was pressing up against, feeling that maddening friction as they rubbed against one another, searching for some relief for his aching cock.

There was no way he could leave now, no matter how much he wanted to. He was painfully hard, and the moment he stood, it would be obvious to everyone, especially Adam, who was raking his eyes up and down Sam’s body. His pink tongue darted out, wetting his lips as he once again caught Sam’s gaze.

He was falling into insanity. He had to be. There was no other way to describe his reaction to the incredibly hot, incredibly off-limits—and not to mention incredibly straight—man in front of him. His involuntary attraction sparked a flare of anger. He was getting a little too old to be letting his dick control him. Sam had just about enough. The night had been long, trying, and Sam was tired. He wanted to go home, go to sleep, and pretend none of it ever happened.

 

Where to Buy:

Amazon | Dreamspinner Press  | All Romance eBooks

 

About the Author:

Cate Ashwood wrote her very first story in a hot pink binder when she was in the second grade and found her passion for writing. Her first successful foray into romance writing came five years later when she wrote her best friend, who was experiencing a case of unrequited love, her own happily ever after.

Cate’s life has taken a number of different and adventurous roads. She now lives a stone’s throw from the ocean, just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, son, and two cats. Her life is filled with family and friends, travel, and, of course, books.

Where you can find Cate:

Website: http://www.cateashwood.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cate.ashwood

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cateashwood

 

Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway