A warm welcome to author Max MacGowan joining us here today to share an exclusive excerpt of their new release “Taking the Long Way”.

Max also brought along a giveaway for our readers!

Welcome Max 🙂

Taking the Long Way by Max MacGowan

Published by Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 234
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs | Tibbs Design
Release Date: February 12 th, 2016

Blurb:

Male escort Rye Bellamy is looking for a way out. Any way out. He’s getting older, and clients are getting more dangerous. If he doesn’t find something better, he knows he won’t survive.

He sees his chance in Marcus Townsend, a functionally blind Army veteran. Marcus, who refuses to accept his condition as immutable, has a shot at seeing a specialist who might be able to help him—but that doctor’s based on the other side of the country.

When Rye and Marcus meet, they realize they can help each other. Marcus can’t drive, but Rye can. Marcus knows what Rye is, but he likes him anyway. In fact, he more than likes him. Driving cross-country with a near stranger is a daunting task, but Rye’s biggest risk is falling for the gentle, stubborn-hearted soldier—and it might already be too late to stop that.

They plan to part ways when they reach their destination, but plans change as the affection between them grows. Now neither wants their journey to end, but continuing means finding a way to bridge the distance between who they were and who they’d like to become.

Buy Links:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

“We should do it. Pick up and go,” Marcus said. “You and me.”

Rye gave a startled laugh. “What?”

Marcus could see it now, unfolding behind his eyes. “I have a truck. It hasn’t been driven in years, but my cousin’s an auto mechanic, and he’s kept it maintained. If you have a license, it’s all we’d need.”

“Marcus, wait. I can’t keep up. What are you saying?” Rye unfolded his legs and hitched himself closer to the foot of the bed, nearer to Marcus. “Start over.”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Marcus gestured with both hands. “We both want to get away, don’t we?”

“Yeah, but—”

“There’s a doctor in Atlanta I’ve been offered a referral to. Someone who might be able to help me. I had thought there was no way I could make it, but this could work.”

“Why don’t you fly?”

“I can’t take the pressure changes you get on planes at cruising altitude. I get headaches, bad ones.” Marcus waved that impatiently aside. “It could work, Rye. You’ve never traveled, but I’ve got enough experience with that to get us started. We get in the truck, you and me, and hit the road. When we get where we’re going, it’s a blank page for both of us. We can start over.”

He wished he could see Rye’s face clearly. All he could do was guess at the baffled frustration he felt coming off the guy in waves.

Marcus put out one hand and rested it on Rye’s biceps. “You wouldn’t bitch about your problems if I put a gun to your head, and neither would I. But I can read between the lines. You need a fresh start as much as I do. So why not?”

“Marcus….” Rye started. He stopped himself, then began again. “I like you, but you hardly know me, and I barely know you.”

“Yes. That’s why I can ask like this. I wouldn’t be able to if I ever felt you looking at me like you think who I am now comes up short, measured against who I used to be,” Marcus said. “And I know you’re the kind of guy who wants more than what he’s got.”

Rye let out a percussive noise. He shook his head and pushed himself off the bed, feet first. Would have been a bad sign, if he hadn’t stopped there and lifted a hand to his mouth. Biting his nails, startled and on edge. Undecided.

Then, he bent and touched his lips to Marcus’s. “Like you keep saying, Marcus. You can take care of yourself. You don’t need me.”

And with that he turned to go.

He’d made it all the way to the door and was holding it open when Marcus spoke again. He couldn’t help himself. “Please.”

RYE STOPPED, one hand on the knob. Oh, he knew better than to look back over his shoulder.

He did it anyway. Marcus had that effect on him.

Still on the edge of the bed, Marcus looked down at his own hands, bunched into fists. “I can’t stay here, Rye. Not when that means living the rest of my life fending off people who mean well but don’t get it. I’ll hate myself and them for it, and I’ll turn into a bitter old bastard who’s dead but doesn’t know enough to lie down and stop breathing. I can feel it coming, you know? Like winter, when it’s close enough to burn your fingers on.”

Rye knew enough to keep his mouth shut and let Marcus say what he needed to say. He’d feel better for it and be more willing to let Rye go his way. Rye had seen this kind of thing before.

Instead, he sighed.

Marcus took it as a reply, not as a simple breath. “If you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for me. But I wish you’d do it for yourself too. Because we’re the same, you and me. We’re survivors. There has to be something better out there. If we work together, maybe we can find it.”

Rye found he had covered his mouth while Marcus spoke, holding back the words he wanted to say. Yes. Please. Okay.

“That’s all.” Marcus looked up at Rye—or at what Rye guessed Marcus would be able to see of him. Shapes and colors. “That’s everything. So I’m asking you again. Please.”

Rye could have counted the seconds that stretched out between the last word and the echoes it made, seeming somehow louder than the steady pat, pat, pat of the rain. He watched and waited and stood very still in the open doorway, caught between leaving and looking back.

He closed the door.

Marcus was right. The only way either of them would ever have a way out was if they made it themselves. Neither of them could do it on their own. There was no good way, no smart way. Only this way.

He could find Dominica. Give her a call, see if she would hire him.

It was a chance. Only a chance, and if he didn’t take it, Marcus would find somebody else who was willing. Maybe someone who wouldn’t do right by him.

So. That was that, then.

Rye walked silently, moving to stand by Marcus at the foot of the bed. He laid his hand on Marcus’s shoulder and squeezed lightly until he felt the muscle under his palm shiver with emotion.

“All right,” he said. “Okay. God knows you need a keeper. As long as you understand I don’t know how to do this. No idea. You’ve got to take the lead.”

“I can handle that.” Marcus grinned up at Rye.

Yes, he could, and it’d make Marcus feel better about himself. Rye cocked his head so he wouldn’t stroke Marcus’s cheek. He’d made himself a promise, and he meant to keep it. “You look so damn happy,” he mused. “Is this enough for you? Really?”

“It isn’t everything, no.” Marcus clapped a hand to Rye’s shoulder. “But it’s a start.”

Max MacGowan is a work in progress. They’ve just turned forty, and are determined not to go gently into that good night.  They identify as nonbinary genderqueer, and prefer they/them pronouns. While Max lives in North Carolina, they daydream constantly of Seattle and Portland and all other colorful points West. In the meantime, they’ll satisfy themselves with coffee and trying every recipe that piques their interest on the Food Network. While they can be quiet, friends will tell you all that still water can’t quite hide Max’s quirky personality, Or maybe it’s the ever-present puckish twinkle in the eyes that’s really to blame.

Max has a fantastic time writing male/male romance, and is especially fond of polyamory, found families, love in unexpected places, friends who become lovers, and romantic comedies. They’re owned by two rowdy tomcats who take pains to make sure their owner doesn’t ever get the status confused.

You can find Max online via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and their website.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Max-MacGowan/100009993105655
Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxmacgowan
Tumblr: http://maxmacgowan.tumblr.com/
Website: http://www.maxmacgowan.wordpress.com

You can also send Max an e-mail at max.macgowan.author@gmail.com. They’d love to hear from you!

Max generously is offering a backlist copy of their new release to one Lucky reader

Leave a comment to enter .

Good Luck !