Release Blitz, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
Fluke and the Faithless Father
By Sam Burns
The Fantastic Fluke, Book 2
After escaping a murderer and resurrecting his boyfriend, Sage figures he deserves a little time to recover.
Unfortunately, life is rarely fair.
So instead of a break, he gets to deal with a magical law enforcement rookie asking uncomfortable questions about his brush with death. The quaesitor is acting downright suspicious. Or is it suspiciously?
Things go from awkward to dangerous when the man who murdered Sage’s mother is released from prison, and soon after there’s a break-in at the bookstore. The situation escalates so fast that Sage is afraid he’s going to end up with whiplash. Or worse, end up dead. He wanted a break, but not a permanent one.
Fluke and the Faithless Father is a direct sequel to The Fantastic Fluke, and should not be read first. It is an ~85k word novel that follows the continuing adventures of Sage, Fluke, Gideon, and their whole family, found and otherwise.
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“Grandma has been with me today, which I’m sure she’d have told you if you’d asked her beforehand instead of just showing up.”
“Grandma,” he repeated, a sneer in his tone and his nose turned up in disgust like the very word smelled bad.
“What do you expect him to call her?” a low, smooth voice asked from behind him.
I glanced back to find a man lounging in the doorway there, looking like an ad for something expensive. Probably the tailored black suit he was wearing, with a cobalt blue tie that matched his bright eyes hanging untied around his neck like he’d just come home from a fancy party. He was a little scruffy too, with just enough dark stubble to prove he could grow a beard if he wanted to, and his relaxed stance screaming “you should buy whatever product this ad is for, so you too can be this amazing.”
I definitely wouldn’t look that good in that suit—I’d look like a kid playing dress up—but he had the model good looks to pull it off.
He gave me a casual smile, almost a smirk, that matched the model persona, full of secrets and smolder. “I suppose you’d prefer he call her ‘grandmother?’” He over-enunciated the word ridiculously and with a British accent, as though it were a royal title, his eyes twinkling. “Or maybe you’d just prefer he didn’t exist at all.”
Ding, ding, ding, we had a winner.
Somehow, Roger’s face turned even more sour, like someone had teleported a lemon directly onto his tastebuds. “Go wait in the parlor, Frederick. I’ll see mother’s friends out and—”
“You mean her grandson,” the man countered.
“My grandson,” Iris agreed, tightening one arm around mine so hard I was afraid I was going to lose feeling in my fingers. “And Sage isn’t going anywhere.”
When the foyer went silent, Frederick pushed off the doorjamb and came over to us. I was once again struck by jealousy as he did, because even the way he moved was model-elegant. He walked like a cat, on the balls of his feet, silent and graceful.
When he reached me, instead of demanding I stay away from Iris and her money, he held out a hand to shake. “You must be Sage. I’m Freddy.”
Freddy, of course. Iris had told me Roger had a son called Freddy, I just hadn’t connected the two immediately. It seemed impossible that this elegant, beautiful man was related to me in any way. His hand in mine was so smooth—how did a person get hands that smooth? I refrained from asking since it would probably sound weird and skeevy.
Maybe I’d look it up online, though. Gideon would probably like it.
Freddy had an oddly slow, languorous handshake, and his fingers brushed my palm as he pulled away, making me shiver at the feeling. I hadn’t realized it was possible to shake hands like a cat too. Weird.
Without waiting for him to turn, Gideon reached out and grabbed his hand to shake it. “Gideon Knight. Sage’s boyfriend.”
Given the way Freddy winced, Gideon’s grip was a little harder than it needed to be. I shot him a glance, one eyebrow raised, but he was staring into Freddy’s eyes, jaw clenched.
It was exactly how he’d reacted to David when the man had been flirting with me, but—”He’s my cousin, Gideon. Roger’s son.”
Somehow, that didn’t seem to make a difference to Gideon. The two of them stared at each other for a long moment, Freddy looking amused and Gideon near-murderous, before Freddy inclined his head. “It’s nice to meet you, Gideon Knight Sage’s boyfriend.” He looked down at Fluke, who was cocking his head curiously, staring at my cousin. “And who’s this?”
If nothing else, that convinced me Freddy wasn’t much like his father, who had ignored Fluke completely the first time they had met.
“This is my familiar, Fluke.” I reached down with my free hand and scratched his head.
Freddy held out his hand for Fluke to sniff. When Fluke nodded in approval and wiped his face against the proffered hand, some of the tension went out of me. Fluke’s approval might not be proof Freddy was good, but given his prior dislike of everyone who’d tried to kill me last week, his instincts were clearly better than mine. I could have dealt with another douchey relation, but it was a nice thought that I might not have to.
To celebrate the release of Fluke and the Faithless Father, Sam’s giving you a chance to win 1 of 2 e-sets of The Fantastic Fluke Series so far (2 e-books included)! Two winners will be chosen!
About the Author:
Sam is an author of LGBTQIA+ fiction, mostly light-hearted fantasy romances. Most of her books include a little violence, a fair amount of swearing, and maybe a sex scene or two. Oh yeah, and a fox. Don’t forget him.
She is a full-time writer who lives in the Midwest with her husband and cat. Someday, she plans to be a full-time writer who lives near the ocean with her husband and cat.
Connect with Sam:
www.burnswrites.com
facebook.com/sam.burns.52459
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FlickerFoxBooks
goodreads.com/author/show/16897949.Sam_Burns
amazon.com/Sam-Burns/e/B07123MZ62
instagram.com/samburnswrites
