Book Title: Always You
Author: Nell Iris
Publisher: JMS Books
Cover Artist: Written Ink Designs
Release Date: May 30, 2020
Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance
Trope/s: Childhood friends to lovers
Themes: Self-discovery
Length: 11 000 words
It is a standalone story.
Buy Links
JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo |
Best friends. Roommates. And now, maybe…more?
Blurb
Thom Novak feels like a walking cliché: the gay guy desperately in love with his straight best friend, Lee. But he’s willing to keep his feelings hidden, to do whatever it takes, as long as they stay friends forever.
Lee Conway loves sharing an apartment with Thom, his best friend since birth, and would be happy doing it for the rest of his life…no matter his current girlfriend’s opinion on the matter. But he’s never been known for being in contact with his emotions.
When something happens to upset the status quo, Lee pulls away. Has Lee learned how Thom feels about him? Will it mean the end of their friendship? Or is there another reason Lee needs time to think? A more…hopeful reason?
“It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced; needing to talk about this huge…thing, and not being able to talk to you.”
I lean back, too—he slides his hand up until it rests on my shoulder—and turn to look at him, trying not to show that his words sting, but I have to find out. “Did I do something to upset you?”
“What? No! Why would you think that?”
“What am I supposed to think when you take off without saying anything because you can’t talk to me about whatever it is? I thought you could tell me anything.”
Lee groans. “Fuck. I’m an even bigger idiot than I thought.”
I smirk at him. “That’s a well-established fact.”
He slaps my bicep. “Ha ha. Mister Comedian.”
We smile at each other, my stomach unknotting some, making it easier for me to breathe. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be a threat to our friendship.
He lets his hand fall to his leg. “Debora broke up with me yesterday,” he says not a trace of regret or sadness in his voice.
“What? But you said nothing happened with her when I asked you. And she was here earlier, looking for you.”
“Yeah, I know. She left me a voice mail, telling me. But she…said some things that caught me off guard and she needed to know I was okay. That was all. She hasn’t changed her mind, she doesn’t want to get back together.”
“Those things she said, are they the reason you’ve been so weird?”
He looks away. Stares at the black screen just like I did earlier. “Yeah.”
I follow his gaze, even though I know there’s nothing to see, sensing he needs a moment to collect his thoughts, knowing without a doubt that he’s ready to talk now.
He shifts in his seat. Crosses and uncrosses his legs by the ankles. Clears his throat. Rubs a palm across his face.
I’m so curious I want to scream, but force myself to keep still, to wait him out. As the seconds tick past, my consciousness zooms in on him and nothing but him. Everything around us grows blurry and fades out until his measured breaths and fidgeting are all that exists. It’s as though the whole world holds its breath, waiting for what’s to come, knowing it’s something big.
But the sense of foreboding doesn’t faze me. I breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and wait.
He clears his throat, leans forward, and scratches his neck before leaning back again. “Debora said…Debora…she said you’re in love with me…”
I grow cold, all blood rushing to my head and whooshing in my ears. My heartbeats thunder in my mind.
“…and that it’s obvious to her that…that I feel the same way about you. That…I’m in love with you, too.”
Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies room), loves music (and singing along at the top of her voice but she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (Make it so). She loves words, bullet journals, poetry, wine, coffee-flavored kisses, and fika (a Swedish cultural thing involving coffee and pastry!)
Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.
Nell is a bisexual Swedish woman married to the love of her life, a proud mama of a grown daughter, and is approaching 50 faster than she’d like. She lives in the south of Sweden where she spends her days thinking up stories about people falling in love. After dreaming about being a writer for most of her life, she finally was in a place where she could pursue her dream and released her first book in 2017.
Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angsty, short over long, and quirky characters over alpha males.
Author Links
Blog/Website | Facebook Author Page | Facebook Profile
Twitter: @nellirisauthor | Instagram: @nell_iris | Goodreads
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This sounds wonderful.
TBR addressed!