Blog Tour: Guestpost , Excerpt & Giveaway Tara Laine – Prince of the Playhouse (Love in Laguna #3)

Turning Hamlet Into a Romance

Hi all! I’m Tara Lain and I write the Beautiful Boys of Romance. Today, I’m celebrating the release of a book that a bunch of people have been waiting for – Prince of the Playhouse, book 3 in my Love in Laguna series (although all the books are standalone).

You can tell from the title that this book has something to do with a theater. In fact, it’s based on an actual place – The Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, California where the whole series takes place. I imagined that my hero, Ru, is asked to design costumes for a special performance to be given at the Playhouse starring the world’s most famous action movie star, Gray Anson, who has agreed to do a fundraiser for the Playhouse – and as a way of expanding his reputation. Of course, I had to choose a play.

Since a lot of the action takes place during the rehearsals, the choice of the play was important. The Love in Laguna books are contemporary and have a serious tone without being totally angsty. I wanted to reflect that tone. Also, I had to consider a play that most people reading the book might know at least a tiny bit about, and it had to be high enough profile that an action star would want to take it on. One clear choice – Hamlet!

While most people can’t really tell you the story of Hamlet, everyone has heard “To be or not to be” sometime in their life. Hamlet has been filmed almost as many times as Cinderella. Hamlet is young, can be handsome if you want him to be, and he’s a conflicted hero. That’s just what I wanted my hero, Gray Anson, to be. Plus, the play, like all of Shakespeare, is complex and difficult to understand, so it gave me an excuse for my movie star to have a big crisis of confidence after he agrees to do it. Heck, there’s even knife and sword fighting! I had a great time interspersing some kissing and other bits of hot romance between the ghosts, murders, and mayhem of Hamlet.

Of course, Hamlet is a full-on tragedy. Few characters remain alive. But I like to think that my heroes falling in love backstage brings a little extra romance to the Bard, and a chance for a Happy Ever After.

For Gray, looking clumsy almost never happened. Except at this moment. He tried to pull off his belt and shove down his jeans so fast, he forgot to take off his $400 leather sneakers, resulting in a bumbling pretzel crashing onto the bed, bound up in denim ankle cuffs.

Ru laughed and got a frown from Gray. “Don’t just stand there. Take off the damned shoes.” He smiled. “Please.”

Ru removed the beautiful shoes, tossed them aside, then grabbed Gray’s jeans and yanked them off, leaving him in only a pair of baby-blue bikini briefs. Ru chortled. “Oh yeah, you’re gay.”

“I wore them just for you.” Gray bobbed his butt and had them off so fast Ru barely got to admire them. Then he pulled his long-sleeved T-shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor.

Oh man, what a body. Lean and ripped, even more beautiful than the movies revealed. To say nothing of that mind-bending cock.

“Lie on your back.” Admiring the impressive length and breadth of Gray’s full upright position, Ru sauntered to the nightstand and carefully removed the foil and the cage from the champagne bottle, then popped the cork. Gray’s dick bobbed in time. Ru poured some champagne into one of the glasses and sat next to Gray, who appeared to be bouncing in place in anticipation. With a twirl of one finger, he swirled the champagne, then slid the wet digit across Gray’s beautiful lips.

An anxious tongue emerged and licked the liquid. “Ummm. I could really get into champagne if you deliver it that way.”

“Ah, I’ve barely begun to display my champagne-delivery skills.” He wet his finger again and made a circle around Gray’s hard-as-a-diamond nipple, then laved it with his tongue before sucking the champagne-flavored nub into his mouth.

Gray gasped, and his hips rose from the bed.

Ru pulled back and chuckled. “Don’t get too excited yet. We have far to go.” He poured a splash of liquid into the center of Gray’s breastbone and watched it dribble down and collect in his innie. Oh yes, what a way to consume alcohol. He followed the lines of bubbly from the swell of Gray’s pecs down to his navel. That put his lips dangerously close to the prime target area, and Gray knew it. His cockhead stretched up beyond his belly button but curved slightly to the right, giving Ru just enough space to nuzzle in and gather the liquid on his tongue.

Gray twisted so his dick slapped against Ru’s cheek.

Ru chuckled. “A little impatient, are we?”

“Come on!”

“Come on what, darling?”

“Suck it, please. Please.”

“Oh, you ask so sweetly. How can I resist?” He shifted an inch and stuck out his tongue until it gathered precum dripping from Gray’s penis, then licked some more champagne from his belly.

“More, please.”

“More? Hmmm.” He poured a stream of champagne right on Gray’s cock, which got a giggle and hip bounce from the cock owner. “Goin’ down.”