Title: The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Author: Lisa Henry
Publisher:Self Published
Release Date: 3 April 2020
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 79 000 words
Genre: Romance
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Synopsis
The past never stays buried forever.
John Faimu is an Australian-Samoan police officer who deals with hurt kids every day. He loves what he does, but he’s tired of the grind of shift work, and of trying to find a balance between his job, his family, and the young man who straddles the increasingly blurry line between both.
Caleb Fletcher was the teenager John saved from a cult eight long years ago, and he’s now the young man John wants in ways that neither of them should risk.
Eight years after his rescue, Caleb is still struggling with PTSD and self-harm. John has always been his rock, but now Caleb wants more. Can he convince John to cross a line and love him the way they both crave? And when the monsters from Caleb’s past come back seeking to silence him for good, will John’s love be enough to save him?
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is an mm gay romance featuring hurt/comfort, first times, found family, and angst with a happy ending.
Hi, everyone. I’m Lisa! Thank you so much for having me here today, and letting me talk a little about my newest release, The Parable of the Mustard Seed. Today I’d like to share an excerpt from the book. In this scene, John is giving Caleb his birthday present—a gift that means more than Caleb knows:
John arrived early for Caleb’s birthday party, ostensibly to give Darren a hand setting up, but mostly to catch up with Caleb and see how he was going. He hadn’t even made it halfway up the front stairs before the door was flung open and Caleb stood there, smiling.
“How do I look?” Caleb asked. Gave him a twirl, even.
John felt a smile spreading across his face. “Not bad, for a skinny white boy.”
Dress pants, a shirt and tie. Black shoes polished to a shine.
“I feel underdressed,” John said, in his jeans and a T-shirt.
Caleb’s gaze raked him up and down. “You look good.” A blush crept over his face, and he turned away quickly. “Anyway, I’m not wearing this for the party. This is for work.”
He stepped back from the door to let John in.
John closed the door behind himself. “Is anyone else here yet?”
“No. Dad’s gone to get some ice,” Caleb said. “Do you want to see the rest of my work clothes?”
“Okay.” John followed Caleb through to his bedroom.
Caleb showed him his wardrobe: dress pants and different shirts, and at least eight different ties. A suit jacket for winter, as though Caleb would still be working there then.
No harm in planning for the best, John chastised himself as he admired it. “These look good. You’re not turning into a yuppie, are you?”
Caleb snorted, and raked his fingers through his hair. “No! Besides, that’s so outdated!”
John laughed and rearranged one of the ties on the rack. “Yeah, well, I’m old, remember?”
“You’re not old,” Caleb said.
John became aware that their shoulders were touching as they stood together in front of the open closet. He stepped away and pulled the wrapped present out of his bag. “No, you are, aren’t you? Twenty-three today.”
Caleb smiled shyly and took the present. “Thanks, John.”
He sat on his bed and unwrapped it.
DVDs, a book voucher, and the necklace. A small boar’s tusk necklace, with a traditional design cut into it. Caleb picked it up and looked at John inquiringly.
“That was my dad’s,” John said.
Caleb’s eyes widened. “John…I think…” He sucked in a nervous breath. “I think maybe this should stay in your family.”
O le fogavaʻa e tasi.
One family.
Because you’re my family too, Caleb.
John forced a smile. “Hey, you never refuse a gift from a Samoan. That’s bad manners, you know.”
Caleb clamped his mouth shut. He closed his hand around the necklace and stood, abruptly stepping forward to embrace John. “Thank you. I’ll look after it, promise.”
John held him back. It felt good to hold Caleb so close, to splay his fingers on his back, to have him breathing against John’s throat. “I know you will, mate.”
A perfect quiet moment. If they could stay like this forever, it would be okay. Caleb would be okay.
John wasn’t sure which of them became aware of it first: the press of Caleb’s hardening cock against John’s thigh. But then Caleb was wheeling away, red-faced, rifling through the shirts in his closet again, pretending nothing had happened. John pretended too. Pretended that for just a second he hadn’t felt a jolt of want go through him. Of need. Of sheer fucking wonder. That in that second he hadn’t suddenly seen what he could have with Caleb. What they could both have, if only it hadn’t been the most dangerous idea in the world.
“I like the green,” he said as Caleb pulled out a shirt. “That will look good on you.”
Caleb couldn’t look him in the eye.
A few minutes later John heard Darren’s car, and escaped to help him set up.
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Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.
Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.
She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.
She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.
Lisa has been published since 2012, and was a LAMBDA finalist for her quirky, awkward coming-of-age romance Adulting 101, and a Rainbow Awards finalist for 2019’s Anhaga.
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