Today we welcome to Love Bytes author A. Nybo joining us to share an exclusive excerpt of new release “The Devil’s Breath”.

Welcome A.

Morning sun filtered onto the back porch through the trees that bordered the yard, and Birch sat with closed eyes, enjoying the warmth on his face. The sound of muffled yells from inside the house put him on instant alert. Jason and Nate were both in there somewhere. He hoped.

Birch rose and entered through the back door, closing it quietly behind him. He listened but couldn’t hear any movement. His heart rate ratcheted up. There should be some sound from one of the others. He tiptoed through the great room into the hallway and stopped. Still no sound. Rounding the corner, he started when Jason emerged from the nearest bedroom. Birch released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“It’s all right,” said Jason. “It was Henri having a nightmare.”

Birch’s eyes were drawn to the shoulder holster Jason was wearing over his T-shirt. This shit was getting too real, and guns made him nervous. “You thought you’d need a gun to wake him?”

“Get used to it, Birch. Now Henri’s here, there’s a lot more likelihood Russell will show up.”

A little shaky, Birch retreated to the kitchen, where he found Nate at the start of the lunch preparations—a pastime that obviously also required firearms.

Since he’d heard no noise from the kitchen when he came in, he guessed Nate had been listening as well.

Birch eyed Nate’s trousers. “Do you go to a special store to buy pockets?”

Nate looked down at his lower half. “Ridiculously brilliant, aren’t they? The problem is, you can only put soft things in these pockets at the back,” he said as he twisted to indicate which ones, “or it hurts like hell when you sit down.”

“They must weigh a ton if even half those pockets are in use at any given time. Maybe you could fill them with air pouches in case you were stranded at sea and your boat got blown up. They could be floaties.”

Nate laughed and shook his head in mock disbelief. “I believe you’re looking for the term ‘air floatation device.’ Have you come to help with lunch?”

“How could I resist such a hopeful request?”

“That transparent, was it?”

“I think it was the sudden change of subject that clued me in. Don’t you like to cook?” Birch looked at the uncut vegetables next to the chopping board and moved in for the kill.

“Not really. Do you?”

He cast a wary look at Nate before he turned his attention back to the carrot he was chopping. “I’m not answering that on the grounds it may get me assigned to the cooking of every meal.”

“I’m not a fan of your cunning right now.”

Birch helped with lunch, and they had almost finished eating when Henri emerged, freshly shaven and showered. His wet hair hung past his shoulder blades, and he wore clean sweatpants topped by a long-sleeved shirt that hung open to reveal a T-shirt beneath. Despite it being past midday, he looked wrung out, and Birch wondered how much sleep he’d actually gotten.

After lunch and the cleanup, Birch decided to return to the porch and found Henri sitting in one of the chairs, his leg jiggling. Since everyone else seemed strangely tolerant of Henri’s peculiar mood swings, Birch decided to try again. “Mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead.”

Birch sought a subject that might bring them some amusement. “What do you do for fun, Henri?”

“Fun?” Henri thought for a moment, before he waved down his length like a game-show prize presenter. “This is it. I’m having it.”

“Granted, playing hide-and-seek with a psycho is a lot of fun. I know I’m enjoying the fuck out of it, but I was thinking more along the lines of something enjoyable that doesn’t involve getting hurt.”

Henri’s eyes flashed with amusement, and his mouth quirked. “So skiing is out, then?”

“Since you seem to think it’s potentially painful, I would have to think it’s out, yes.” When Henri remained silent, Birch tried to prompt him. “Besides sitting in the sunshine, what else do you enjoy?”

Setting his elbow on the arm of the chair, Henri framed the near side of his face with his hand, obscuring Birch’s view of his expression. “Not a lot.” Henri’s monotone was softly spoken.

“Hey,” said Birch as he leaned over and patted Henri’s arm, “it’s….”

Henri exploded from the chair so fast Birch barely had time to throw his hands up protectively. When there was no further movement, Birch peeked around his raised hands to see Henri standing on the other side of the chair, eyes wide, chest heaving.

In that moment, Birch saw something he’d seen a thousand times in abused horses—the fear that touch would turn to pain. Birch took a calming breath and lowered his hands. “It’s all right, Henri,” he soothed. “I won’t touch you. Sorry, I didn’t know it was an issue.”

Henri stood, an indecisive look on his face, the rapid rise and fall of his chest starting to slow.

“Just sit, Henri. We don’t have to talk.”

Henri sat down, and over the next hour, Birch kept a furtive eye on the leg jiggling as it faded to chair rocking that eventually came to a standstill. Mystifying as it was, Birch experienced some pleasure that Henri could relax in his presence.

 

Cover Artist: Kanaxa

House Line Perchance to Dream

Genre Contemporary

Words: 65,021 (200pp)

Blurb:

Henri’s stalker has left him with a paradoxical legacy: his mind rebels at the thought of being touched—the very thing his body craves.

For three years Henri has fought to overcome the horrors of the past. Now on the other side of the world—after leaving Australia for Canada—Henri’s nemesis is hunting him with maniacal focus. Trying to escape, he meets Birch, a kind horse trainer, who’s confounded by Henri’s idiosyncrasies even as he is drawn to him. But when Birch discovers the truth, he encourages Henri not to just survive, but to live.

Maybe even to love.

Buy Links:

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press 

Kobo

Barnes & Noble (Nook)

 

 

 

 

 

A. Nybo has tried conventional methods (a psych degree and a GC in Forensic Mental Health) but far prefers the less conventional, such as the occasional barbecue in the rain, four-hundred-kilometer drives at 1:00 a.m. for chocolate, and multiple emergency naps in any given twenty-four-hour period.

Western Australian born, she has been spotted on the other side of the planet several times—usually by mosquitoes. She’s also discovered Amazonian mosquitoes love her just as much as they do in her home state.

Social Media:

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