A warm welcome to author Annabeth Albert visiting Love Byes on her Indigo blog tour for new release “Off Base”.
Welcome Annabeth 🙂
Title: Off Base
Series: Out of Uniform #1
Author: Annabeth Albert
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: January 9th 2017
Length: 73,000
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Synopsis
After trading the barracks for a fixer-upper rental, navy SEAL Zack Nelson wants peace, not a roommate—especially not Pike, who sees things about Zack he most wants to hide. Pike’s flirting puts virgin Zack on edge. And the questions Pike’s arrival would spark from Zack’s teammates about his own sexuality? Nope. Not going there. But Zack can’t refuse.
Pike Reynolds knows there won’t be a warm welcome in his new home. What can he say? He’s an acquired taste. But he needs this chance to get his life together. Also, teasing the uptight SEAL will be hella fun. Still, Pike has to tread carefully; he’s had his fill of tourists in the past, and he can’t risk his heart on another, not even one as hot, as built—and, okay, yeah, as adorable—as Zack.
Living with Pike crumbles Zack’s restraint and fuels his curiosity. He discovers how well they fit together in bed…in the shower…in the hallway… He needs Pike more than he could have imagined, yet he doesn’t know how to be the man Pike deserves.
Book One of the Out of Uniform series
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise! Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise
Thank you so very much for having me! I thought it might be fun today to talk about how OFF BASE came to be, and more specifically, how the character of Pike, zany gamer and newbie professor, was born. Fans of my #gaymers series wanted more books after the initial three, but I wasn’t sure precisely who would get the next book and whether I’d continue the series or do a spin-off. Then while writing CONNECTION ERROR, Pike, who made a very brief cameo in BETA TEST, bounded back onto the page in a brief scene. I knew instantly that he needed a book and that his hero would be a SEAL friend of Ryan’s, and that he’d spend most of the book giving that SEAL a run for his money. And thus, as the setting shifted from the gamers who worked for the Space Villager game to the SEALS in Coronado, the spin-off started taking shape.
This is the CONNECTION ERROR scene that launched my imagination. It’s in Ryan’s POV—he’s a SEAL too and his co-hero was Josiah, a gamer friend of Pike’s. But I thought you might like to see Pike’s introduction as it were. To get Pike’s story and HEA with Zack, be sure to check out OFF BASE!
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Thus when some kid with bright red hair asked him if he’d ever played the Space Villager first-person shooter expansion pack with a heavy dose of “I’m gonna let you win, no worries, big guy” in the asking, Ryan said yes and couldn’t grab a joystick fast enough. The kid was good too, and had undoubtedly cut his teeth on Call of Duty or similar, but Ryan had the advantage of real-world reflexes.
Before long, Ryan was aware of other people behind them, watching them play. He didn’t care. They’d been staring at him all afternoon. Let them see him for what he could do.
“Oh hell. Jos! Why didn’t you warn me about this guy?” The kid called out to Josiah who was deep in conversation with Adrian, and whatever was being said was making him scowl mightily.
Josiah gave them a thumbs-up and a halfhearted laugh before returning to Adrian.
“So…” The redhead scooted a bit closer than Ryan was strictly comfortable with. “You guys like…exclusive?”
Were they? Ryan wasn’t really sure. He was just feeling his way toward being okay with the boyfriend label. And Josiah, bless his open-book soul, had made it clear he hadn’t been sleeping around while Ryan had been in DC, but that wasn’t the same thing as them agreeing to be exclusive.
“Jos and I have been clubbing lots.” Oh this had to be the friend who had dragged Josiah out to West Hollywood and the Abbey. Everest or Cliff or some other ridiculous mountainy name. The kid nodded sagely at Ryan, heated intent clear in his eyes. “You party at all? I could stick around later.”
And uh, okay, no on the not really subtle threesome offer. Was this guy Josiah’s usual type? Lean and short and full of sarcastic wit? Had they slept together once upon time? And why the hell did these questions make Ryan want to growl? “I’m thinking I’m going to be tired.”
“Pike! Are you seriously chatting up Jos’s boyfriend?” A friend of the redhead spoke up from behind the couch, leaning over so he was between Ryan and Pike.
“Lay off, Landon,” Pike said to his blond mohawked sidekick.
“Pike’s obsessed with military guys,” Landon shared.
“I’ve got some friends I could introduce you to.” Friends who likely wouldn’t know the first thing to do with a guy like Pike, but still, Ryan could be sociable.
“Can I get a closer look at your legs?” Pike asked, and Ryan couldn’t tell whether there was something sexual behind the curiosity—he’d heard about people who were really into amputees but those weren’t waters he intended to fish in.
“Uh…no.” Ryan shrank back against the cushions—well, as much as a guy his size could shrink anyway.
“Pike. My turn to try to take down this guy.” Landon forcibly booted his friend to the floor and hopped over the back of the couch, nimble as could be.
“Congrats on replacing Tristan as Pike’s current gamer crush. Now, prepare to lose.” Landon cracked his knuckles.
“Bring it,” Ryan said.
“What do you mean they’re not coming?” Zack tried hard to sound like the badass navy SEAL he was now. He’d passed all sorts of interrogation training—there was no reason he couldn’t hide that he didn’t particularly like this guy. Or this fancy bar where he and his nontrendy clothes and military haircut were out of place. He’d agreed to go out for drinks with a group. His friend Ryan had promised him a drink for finishing his SEAL qualification training and getting his trident, and Zack had figured dealing with the rest of Ryan’s crowd wouldn’t be horrible. But tolerable was a far cry from being stranded alone with Pike freaking Reynolds without Ryan as a buffer.
“They blew two tires getting out of Santa Monica and are waiting on a repair truck now. Ryan said to have fun without them.” Pike looked harmless enough—shorter than Zack with a lean build and bright red hair and freckles that made him look too young to drink—but Zack knew from experience he was anything but benign. Pike was the type of guy who would flirt with wallpaper, but he seemed to have singled Zack out for special attention ever since their first meeting at a LAN party.
Which was all well and good, but unlike a lot of Ryan’s crowd, Zack wasn’t openly gay. And what Zack hated was that Pike seemed to see through all his “no, really I’m straight” protests and see things Zack refused to even think about. And a whole night with Pike? Torture. And that was coming from someone who’d been tossed into frigid water with his arms and legs bound. Repeatedly.
But he’d happily endure another round of drownproof training if it meant an easy out of this situation.
“Is Landon coming?” Please say it’s not just us. Surely, Pike’s omnipresent sidekick would be there to bail Zack out.
“Nope. He’s doing research at the Hadron Collider for the next few months. Just us, I think.” Pike grinned at him. “Alone at last, right?”
Zack guessed that the Hadron was one of those supersmart things Pike’s crowd just assumed everyone else knew about. He certainly wasn’t about to appear dumb and ask. “You don’t have to stick around on my account,” he said instead.
“Dude.” Pike smacked him on the shoulder. “I’ve had a shit week. Another three interviews for jobs for the fall, another three fuckups on my part. Don’t make me drink alone.”
“I guess I could do a beer.”
“On me, right? We’re all super stoked that you passed SQT.” Pike gave him another of those disarming smiles.
Ba-deep-deep. Zack’s phone chimed. Sure enough, there was a message from Ryan apologizing for bailing. Have fun with Pike, Ryan ended. But whatever you do, don’t let him talk you into shots. He looks scrawny, but he can drink you under the table. Trust me.
Zack shoved his phone away. Nope, no way was he doing shots with Pike. Last thing he needed was to get drunk and forget himself around the guy.
“So what’ll it be? They have a whole selection of craft beers here.” Pike offered him one of the little bar menus artfully strewn around on the huge antique wood bar.
“A Bud’s fine,” Zack said. He’d never developed a taste for the fancy stuff. This whole place was fancier than he was used to, what with the exposed hardwoods everywhere, the prettified bar food emerging from the kitchen, and the painted inspirational quotes behind the bar. Even the name, Mellow, was a far cry from the hole-in-the-wall places he’d drunk at in college or even Big Ted’s, the little sports bar right off base that his fellow SEALs favored.
Pike signaled the burly bartender, who frowned at them after Pike gave their order for a Bud and some fancy-ass beer Zack had never heard of. “Hand stamps, please. Both of you.”
Zack stuck his hand out, showing that the bouncer had indeed checked his ID. Pike put his arm right next to Zack’s—way too close for comfort. “See, look at us, finding things in common.”
“Getting carded is hardly something to be proud of,” Zack mumbled as he pulled his arm away. Back in San Diego, when he went to the bars with his friends, they never got carded anymore. And he liked that—he was twenty-three now, for crying out loud.
“Of course it’s not for you, Muscles.” Pike did that whole standing-too-close thing again, moving over so others could get to the bar.
Zack really shouldn’t like that Pike noticed what the past few months of training had done for his physique. He’d always been lean, but days of log- and boat-carry drills had carved out muscles he hadn’t even been aware he had. Zack accepted his beer from the bartender, then followed Pike to one of the little high-top tables ringing the bar area.
“Seriously, you are jacked now.” Pike winked at him, giving him the sort of once-over Zack’s buddies gave girls in bikinis. “Look at those shoulders. It even makes you look taller.”
Flattery was not going to work on Zack. Not even a bit. Besides, Pike was the short one, probably five seven or so. But Zack was a perfectly respectable five ten. In your boots.
“Truth, man. I just call it like I see it.” Pike shrugged. And that right there was the whole problem with Pike—he had absolutely no filter and a way too keen sense of observation.
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Annabeth Albert grew up sneaking romance novels under the bed covers. Now, she devours all subgenres of romance out in the open—no flashlights required! When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, she’s a multi-published Pacific Northwest romance writer.
Emotionally complex, sexy, and funny stories are her favorites both to read and to write. Annabeth loves finding happy endings for a variety of pairings and is a passionate gay rights supporter. In between searching out dark heroes to redeem, she works a rewarding day job and wrangles two children.
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I loved the gaymers series! Off to add this to my wish list!