Love Bytes says hello and welcome to author Allison Cassatta joining us today to talk about the release of “Dearly Stalked”.

Welcome Allison 🙂

Same Sex Romance In Your Hometown?

Memphis Tennessee isn’t exactly considered a big city, not compared to places like New York and San Francisco. We wanna be big and god knows we’re trying, but we still have a lot of the charm of small town living. It’s both convenient and inconvenient as hell. While you’re two and a half minutes away from a delightful handcrafted mocha or that badass pair of jeans some awesome designer just released, you still can’t go too many place where people haven’t seen you or know you from somewhere, or whose friend is friends with your cousin’ friend and they saw you a party one time in 1999.

This also means secrets tend to spread like wildfire. I adore a lot of things about this town, but sometimes it’s unnerving being told a secret you never told anyone. This is especially true when it comes to a person’s sexuality. People tend to take extraordinary measures to keep secrets like that out of the public eye. That being said, some still need a place to be out and free, and expressing their love for their partners.

 

Up until about a decade ago, I didn’t think much about Memphis having or needing a gay community. I had my “god dads” as I affectionately called them. They vetted my boyfriends and gave me a safe place to chill instead of running the streets, but I never thought of them being romantic or needing romantic places to be out and free. Driving around Memphis now, after witnessing the same sex kiss day in front of Chic-Fil-A, attending Pride events, and even seeing the things the MGLCC is doing gave me a new attitude toward my hometown. What about your hometown? Did you see a difference in a decade?

 

Blurb:

Writing crime novels catapulted Memphis native Silas Cooper to fame and fortune, but when his words backfire and he becomes trapped in what could be one of his books, he needs a hero of his own.

Silas’s publicist insists he hire a personal assistant, and Silas chooses Scott Kramer. But before Scott starts, he already has a round of steamy phone sex to hold over Silas’s head, and his interest in his boss isn’t decreasing.

Benjamin Logan joined the Army to see the world, and while deployed he read every one of Silas’s books. With his military career over, Ben is back in Memphis working for the police department—and attempting a deeply closeted relationship with fellow cop Morgan Brown.

Over coffee, Silas and Ben become friends who support each other as relationships fall apart, and the attraction between them slowly emerges. When a dangerous stalker threatens Silas, it’s up to Ben to stop him.

If Ben fails, Silas might not live to tell this story… and Ben might not be able to live with himself.

BUY LINKS:

 

If there was anywhere in Memphis safe enough for two guys to make out, it was definitely Midtown. Right around the corner from the Union Station precinct lived the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center—also known as the MGLCC. Not that Ben had ever darkened the door of that place. He wouldn’t be caught dead in there. It was at the epicenter of one of the most “open-minded” of all the Memphis communities. Cooper-Young, named for the coolest intersection in the city, boasted the most eclectic of all Memphis’s inhabitants. Hence the reason he’d chosen to live there. Though, none of his neighbors would ever know the secrets he hid behind closed doors. Not if he had his way.

He parked his pickup behind the house, silently thanking God for a driveway that ended under the cover of trees and far beyond his neighbor’s privacy fence. Brown followed him. Ben killed his engine and hopped out of his truck. He nodded toward the back door, signaling for Brown to follow him inside.

This was crazy and he knew it. He knew inviting a coworker—a coworker looking for a hookup—back to his place to fuck was a supremely bad idea, but little Ben had control right now. Big Ben didn’t have a fighting chance. All he knew was lust, and all he wanted was to feel Morgan Brown writhing beneath him as he twisted his digits in all that blond hair. He wanted to know if all that tan flesh tasted as hot as it looked.

Fucking hell, he thought as Brown stripped away his shirt in passing. Beneath his clothes, the reality lived up to fantasy. He spent as much time in the gym as Ben did. Obviously. Rippling shoulder muscles dipped down into a narrow waist. When he turned around, he had both hands at his crotch, two seconds away from coming out of his jeans.

“Whoa,” Ben said, holding up both hands, not really knowing why. After all, he wanted to have sex with Morgan Brown. He’d been craving a good roll in the sheets with the guy since Brown stepped foot in the precinct.

“Whoa, what?”

“I…. Um….”

“Spit it out, Ben.”

“I want this. I swear, I do.”

Brown stepped closer. The hand that’d once been on his zipper was now on Ben’s navel, smoothing up and down, up and down. He looked at Ben with sincerity, with kindness and gentleness. “What’s stopping you?”

“Nobody knows about me,” Ben admitted. He took a deep breath, held it, and let it roll through his body. It didn’t calm his thumping heart. “I never told my parents, never planned to. I mean… nobody knows, and they never will. Feel me?”

“I’m not asking you to walk into work holding my hand or take me on dates. I want you to fuck me. The end.”

“No expectations?”

“No expectations.”

“That’s good, Brown. Real good.”

“Okay, maybe I have one expectation.” Brown smirked.

Ben arched his brow. Here we go. This couldn’t just be about sex. It never worked out that way. They always said they wanted to fuck and go, but they ended up getting attached. Ben would give an inch and they’d want a mile. Usually, though, it didn’t happen until after the fact.

“Don’t call me Brown, okay? Call me Morgan.”

A hint of a smile grabbed the edge of Ben’s mouth. He couldn’t help it. Between the urge to let out a little laugh and the bit of relief he felt, he was surprised a full-fledged grin didn’t erupt from his mug. He took a step forward, walking right into Morgan’s personal space. Morgan didn’t move. He didn’t flinch or falter.

 

I’m colorful and silly and fangirl over my readers. I believe life is best served up with a heaping helping of fun! And I’m immeasurably mean to my characters, but they always get closure in the end. More times than not, a happy ending. It all started with a dream that made her heart wrench and a set of mesmerizing eyes that begged to be seen, and Allison Cassatta the writer was born. A techie by trade, the day-dreamer in her wanted to sail away from the mundane, while the hopeless romantic in her searched for the perfect love story. Many poems and short stories were written before her first attempt at a novel and once that piece of her soul spilled onto paper, there was no stopping it. She has an eye for the visually stunning and a mind that screams to bring that beauty to life. She gives her readers something they can feel in the depth of their heart, creates worlds they can touch and characters that become your best friend or worst enemy. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, big-city life was a rat-race that kept her busy in her career. It took moving with her new husband to a sleepy Mississippi town to make her realize that dreams can come true, and did they ever. She found herself a published author. She found her perfect romance.

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