Painted Bare by Hayden West
Book 4 in the City of Fountains series
General Release Date: 17th February 2023
Word Count: 16,531
Book Length: NOVELLA
Pages: 78
Genres:
CONTEMPORARY,EROTIC ROMANCE,GAY,GLBTQI
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Book Description
The canvas never lies.
Anthony Henson doesn’t do people. He prefers to be left alone with his paint, brushes and canvas. A world that allows his mind to be at ease, without the struggle to do what is right by societal dictates. His quiet universe is sent spinning, however, when a string of recent thefts brings a tall Irish detective into his circle.
Detective Liam Rourke has a hard, firm policy on not intermingling work and pleasure. Until now, it’s not been an issue to uphold it. Enter one painter and all he wants to do is spend more time around him. The lines between professional and personal are blurred.
When everything settles, what will happen to the straight-laced detective and the man whose own messy life doesn’t matter to him?
Reader advisory: This book contains instances of bullying, as well as mention of homophobia, adultery, and family/domestic verbal/emotional abuse.
The air was crisp and cool, unlike the rest of the day and the heat it would bring. Anthony took his morning walk around his favorite fountain in the city. Well, fountains. They were twin fountains.
Court of the Penguins Fountains was a daily stop for him. Always early in the morning, before the quiet of the day was ruined by people yelling into their phones or screaming at one another. When more sirens tended to cut through the din of human noise.
He walked between the fountains, admiring the penguins that they flanked. This place spoke to him and all of his idiosyncrasies. For whatever reason—he hadn’t been able to find and pinpoint one exactly—this place soothed him. Made him feel as he did when he was painting without actually doing any physical painting.
Anthony stared at one of the fountains, his gaze flickering between the upper and lower basins. The water flowed from the top into the upper then the lower basin. Griffins made up the pedestals for each, there were three of them, and they stood back-to-back, holding up the basins. And there were dolphins between them.
Just an incredible artistic display.
He’d painted these many times but hadn’t been pleased with his results. There remained something about the lower pool that he couldn’t get right. At least not in his mind. For whatever reason, when he painted them, the elongated ends of each oval were just wrong.
And that was one of his reasons for coming here every single morning. One, and the most important, it calmed him. Two, he was determined to get the ovals right.
As he stood in the courtyard, he tipped his head up to the sky. It was going to be another scorcher today and he didn’t envy the people who worked outside. Honestly, usually he didn’t think about them much at all. He tended to stay in his own world.
Marshall would coach him on behaviors when he wasn’t doing what were, as his assistant put it, socially acceptable things.
Why it mattered, he couldn’t give a damn. He knew it did, but didn’t care.
The sound of a siren whooping on the street yanked him from his thoughts in a harsh move. He scowled and dug his fingers into his palm, trying to keep from screaming in fury.
Two squad cars streaked by and he took a deep breath, needing to calm down. Moving through his steps to deescalate himself, he relaxed and turned toward home. The walk would take him about an hour. He would stop on the way at a bakery that he loved, and they would present him with his favorite pastry and drink.
Bosworth’s.
Even with Marshall just thinking of them, his mouth began to water.
The owners were just lovely and always made time to get him what he needed without making a fuss over how he wanted things delivered to him. Knowing his smile tipped up his lips, he pushed his hands into his pockets and struck out, stomach grumbling in anticipation.
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Hayden West
Hayden West lives in the Pacific Northwest, enjoys being outdoors, and hanging out with friends when not working on the next novella to be released.
Find Hayden at their website and blog.
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