Laid to Rest by T. Strange
Book 3 in the Bound to the Spirits series
General Release Date: 20th December 2022
Word Count: 73,787
Book Length: SUPER NOVEL
Pages: 279
GENRES:
CONTEMPORARY,EROTIC ROMANCE,GAY,GLBTQI,MÉNAGE AND MULTIPLE PARTNERS,PARANORMAL
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Book Description
Psychic medium Harlan Brand wants to be the bridge between the living and the spirits of Toronto.
Tired of dealing with ghosts reactively through the Toronto Police Service, psychic medium Harlan Brand starts his own paranormal investigation business, Laid to Rest Investigations. He wants to help ghosts before they become problems and help the people and ghosts who slip through the official cracks. His former police partner, Hamilton, joins him as his associate.
Harlan’s personal life is becoming just as complicated. He’s just moved in with his boyfriend, Charles Moore, and he’s been contacted by a man he saved from possession, Michael Clark. Despite his love for Charles and the commitment they’ve made to one another, Harlan immediately finds himself drawn to Michael. However, after Charles meets Michael and they hit it off, they decide to invite Michael into their relationship.
As his business grows and Harlan adjusts to his new role, solving cases and helping spirits leads him closer to the heart of a mystery that hits very close to home.
Harlan glanced at his phone and groaned. Michael again. He sighed. He’d already put this off long enough, and he had promised Michael he’d let him take him out for a thank-you coffee.
He fixed a bright smile in place as he answered, hoping that the act of smiling would make him sound more friendly and less annoyed. Hopefully he’d find a way to work his preference for texting into the conversation. Oh, yeah, that was bound to come up naturally.
“Michael! Hey!” he said with forced cheer, and as if the call was a surprise rather than the latest in a long series that he’d been ignoring.
“Hey!” Michael sounded genuinely pleased, or at least he was better at faking it. “Harlan, I’ve actually got you! How are you?”
“Good!” This fake-enthusiasm thing actually seemed to be working. Maybe he should try it more often. “Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you. I’ve just, uh, been really busy with work.”
Michael laughed, a low, rumbling chuckle that seemed to go straight to Harlan’s groin. Whoa. What the fuck? He pulled the phone away from his ear for a second and frowned at it.
“No worries. I know you’re getting a new business up and running.”
“Uh, yeah.” Weird. He hadn’t told Michael about his agency. He was discreetly putting out ads, but he was surprised someone like Michael had seen them. Unless… “Wait. You’re not having more ghost problems, are you?”
That laugh again. Was Michael trying to be seductive, or was Harlan just horny or something? Now that he thought about it, between moving, unpacking and work, he had been busy—and so had Charles. It had been a while since they’d both been home at the same time and had the energy to do anything but literal Netflix and chill.
He was trying to decide if he should schedule his coffee with Michael really soon to get it over with, or—his specialty—keep putting it off indefinitely, preferably until Michael gave up or forgot about it—when Michael said, “But one of my friends is.”
“Sorry, what?” Fuck, he’d gotten caught up in his thoughts and lost track of what they were talking about.
“A ghost problem. One of my friends is having a ghost problem.”
“Oh! That’s great!” Harlan cleared his throat. “But, uh, probably not for your friend.” He realized he was saying ‘uh’ a lot during this conversation, even more than usual. Why was talking to Michael making him so nervous?
“Yeah, not so much.” This time Michael’s laugh was too dry to be sexy—or maybe Harlan was just getting used to it. “He’s really freaked out.”
“Of course.” That was how most people felt about ghosts.
“Yeah. And he can pay you, if it works out.”
“Oh.” Even though Morgan had managed to secure them some funding, he definitely wasn’t in a position to turn down the offer of money—and possibly word of mouth to a wealthier demographic than he and the others had access to. All their clients so far had been pro bono. A few had offered to pay, but Harlan had turned them down, knowing they couldn’t really afford it. He was living off his savings, but his personal expenses were pretty low, especially since he’d moved in with Charles. At least he was managing to pay Hamilton. Morgan, so far, had declined to draw a salary—though they hadn’t actually been involved in any cases yet. They’d been doing some admin work, but they still had their day job to rely on. Harlan suspected they’d been doing more work than they’d admitted.
A paying client would allow him to at least give them some money.
“I can definitely look into it, see if I can help.” He dug around in his end-table drawer for something to write on. He came up with one of the notebooks and a pencil that Hamilton had gotten so excited about and ordered as mock-ups for the agency. Harlan and Morgan still weren’t convinced enough to order real versions to give out. Harlan suspected Hamilton just wanted to feed his notebook addiction.
He wasn’t sure how they’d gotten away from the office and into his home, actually. “Can you tell me more about the situation?” he asked, pencil poised.
“Sure I can. Over coffee?” Michael suggested. “Two birds? One mug? Ah?”
Harlan managed to suppress a sigh. “Sure.”
“Perfect. Are you free tomorrow?”
“It’s a date.” Fuck, why did I put it that way?
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T. Strange
T. Strange didn’t want to learn how to read, but literacy prevailed and she hasn’t stopped reading—or writing—since. She’s been published since 2013, and she writes M/M romance in multiple genres, including paranormal and BDSM. T.’s other interests include cross stitching, gardening, watching terrible horror movies, playing video games, and finding injured pigeons to rescue. Originally from White Rock, BC, she lives on the Canadian prairies, where she shares her home with her wife, cats, guinea pigs and other creatures of all shapes and sizes. She’s very easy to bribe with free food and drinks—especially wine.
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