Book Title: 7 Minutes in Kevin (Games We Play, Book 3)
Author: DJ Jamison
Publisher: Must Love Books LLC
Cover Artist: Cate Ashwood
Release Date: November 10, 2022
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Forbidden love, best friend’s dad, small town, drag queen, bi-awakening
Themes: Finding where you fit in the world, acceptance, unconditional love, supportive community
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: approx 93 000 words
It is part of the Games We Play series, but it works as a standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
7 minutes in…holy heck, what have I done?!
Blurb
What happens when I return early from a work trip to find my son throwing yet another party?
Annoyance. Exasperation. Temptation…
I’m tired, yearning for my bed, but I hadn’t counted on the games my son and his friends play–or the one person who’d be waiting in my closet after everyone else is gone.
The guy who’s been haunting my fantasies lately.
He’s too beautiful. Too young. Too off-limits, being one of my son’s best friends.
And…on his knees for me.
Oh god.
7 Minutes in Kevin is a son’s best friend romance with a bi-curious dad, an androgynous beauty who opens his eyes to a whole new world, and a quirky small town full of people who might lose their minds if they find out just how close these two are getting …
The following scene is from the POV of Kevin while in his drag persona, Sassy Solo
Garrett looked like a lost lamb when I found him in the parking lot outside Glitter Balls. He stood in blue jeans, white tee, and a leather jacket that had me feeling like Sandy getting her first good look at Danny in his greaser gear. Yummy.
It was possible I had a weakness for sappy musicals, but Sassy Solo wouldn’t be caught dead performing one of those songs. She was glamor and sophistication—and sometimes biting sarcasm.
She wasn’t a sap, even if I was.
I left the warmth of the club and skirted past the line to reach Garrett, cold air smarting as it bit into every inch of my exposed skin. He had his phone out, frowning down at the screen.
I laid my hand on his arm. “You look lost, sweet thing.”
He pulled away. “I’m fine.”
I pushed out my bottom lip in a pout. It was hammed up, but truthfully, his reaction stung a little.
His eyes widened in recognition.
“Kevin?” He shook his head. “No, I mean Sassy. Sorry.”
Garrett wasn’t the kind of guy who moved in circles with drag queens, but he was always so respectful. He tried to call me Sassy and use she pronouns when I was in drag, and I respected the hell out of that, even if he slipped up now and then.
“Didn’t recognize me at first, huh?” I said teasingly, relieved that his reaction hadn’t been in response to me, but a stranger touching him.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be…” He waved a hand up and down my body, gaze scanning over my black lacy corset, elbow-length gloves, tulle tutu, fishnet stockings, and knee-high boots. “Not that you don’t look… I mean, Sassy is…”
I smiled and did a little spin, letting him drink his fill. “You like?”
Garrett cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. You’re performing?”
“Sort of? I’m still new, so I just do snippets here and there between acts.” I shivered as a brutal wind swept through. “Come on, Gare Bear. Let’s get inside before I freeze off my tits and my balls.”
He made a strangled sound but didn’t pull away as I grabbed his hand and pulled him after me, bypassing the line.
“Gare Bear?” he managed.
I shot him a smile. In my Sassy persona, I felt free to be a little bolder despite the weird tension that had sprung up between us. “It’s fitting, isn’t it? You’re just a teddy bear under that gruff exterior.”
The bouncer waved us through, and the club felt as hot and steamy as a sauna after the bitter chill of a January night. I soaked it in like a lizard curling around a hot rock. “Ahhh warmth.”
Garrett chuckled, and when I glanced over, his gaze was heavy on me. “Not the best outfit for a winter night. I shouldn’t have let you stay out there so long.”
I pointed to my chest. “Adult. Remember?”
“I remember.”
His tone seemed to say he remembered just how adult I could be, which gave me pause. Was I imagining the smoky quality of his voice? But no. Garrett wouldn’t flirt with me, and it was silly to indulge in that fantasy.
“Come on. I’ll introduce you to Cherry Topping. She’s my drag mother.”
“Uh…”
I glanced over my shoulder as we wound through the crowd toward the dressing room in the back corner. “She’s my mentor—but also the queen bee of our little drag family.”
“Oh. Right.”
I opened the unmarked dressing room door, and as usual, chaos reigned on the other side. Queens were in varying stages of readiness—some fully dressed, some in only undergarments, but they were already tucked, pinned, and taped by now, so hopefully we wouldn’t traumatize Garrett too badly.
A little scandalizing was fun, but I did still like the man, even if I shouldn’t.
“I swear to fuck,” Ruth Less screeched while searching a vanity shelf cluttered with makeup, “I will cut the bitch who took my lipstick!”
“No one wants your tacky-ass pukey peach lip color,” Carmelita Taste said without missing a beat.
Garrett froze, eyes wide. “Maybe I should wait outside.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” I said, grasping his biceps and holding tight. Only so he wouldn’t run. Not because I wanted to touch him. “You wanted to help me. Remember?”
“I don’t want to intrude…”
Cherry Topping made a beeline for us. She was a voluptuous queen wrapped into a sparkly ballgown with a pile of red curls. In her heels, she topped out at six-two, which put her just about even with Garrett. Damn, he was tall.
“Who is this delightful piece of arm candy?” Cherry purred.
“Cherry, this is Garrett Rafferty.”
I gave her a pointed look that may or may not have screamed back off. She ignored it.
“Mmm.” She looked him up and down. “If you ever need any extra filling, you just let Cherry Topping know, sugar.”
“Uh…”
“Cherry,” I said in exasperation. “Garrett is one of the volunteers helping me organize Granville’s first Pride weekend, so maybe try not to scare him off. I know it’s hard, you being a hideous hag next to me, but try.”
Garrett shot me an alarmed look, but Cherry laughed in delight. “There’s the Sassy I love. I applaud the effort, but we know a little fish like you could never stand up to me.”
“Well, you’ve got decades on me. Give a girl a chance to catch up.”
Cherry wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a playful shake. “This is why Sassy is my new drag daughter. She’s a delight.”
“She is,” Garrett said, not in a flirty or suggestive way, but just matter-of fact. For some reason, I liked that better. It made me feel seen. For years, I’d watched Garrett. I’d admired him, trusted him, lusted for him. And he’d always been kind to me, always had a compliment or word of praise that buoyed me for weeks. And I couldn’t say he hadn’t seen me. But he’d been seeing a filtered version of me. He’d seen Kevin, his son’s friend, the gay kid with sharp edges, the boy who wore makeup and frilly clothes and caught hell for it—though never serious trouble thanks to a small group of fierce but loyal friends.
But he hadn’t seen Kevin, the man. Kevin, the drag queen. Kevin, the person who was so much more than his son’s friend. Never that.
Now, in this moment, I thought maybe he did.
DJ Jamison writes romances about everyday life and extraordinary love featuring a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual. DJ grew up in the Midwest in a working-class family, and those influences can be found in her writing through characters coping with real-life problems: money troubles, workplace drama, family conflicts and, of course, falling in love. DJ spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before chasing her first dream to write fiction. She spent a lifetime reading before that and continues to avidly devour her fellow authors’ books each night. She lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, one snake, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.
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