Book Title: Beautiful Dark Temptation
Author: Roxas Winters
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Release Date: September 27, 2024
Pairing: MM
Tense/POV: First person/ Past tense/Alternating POV
Genres: Contemporary MM Romance, dark, mafia, college,
Tropes: Mafia romance, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, morally grey MCs, possessive MC
Themes: Bisexual awakening, in the closet, trauma
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 226 pages/ 76 000 words
It is a standalone story with a HFN ending.
This is book 1 of the Arcadia U series. Book two is in edits.
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I’m not ready to lose it all for a beautiful dark temptation
Blurb
Tomás
I’ve lost everything.
Forced into a prison masking as a school, I find myself in the crosshairs of more than one killer. My savior? The arrogant prick who wants to control me. Kieran is a nightmare wrapped in a seductive package and when he sets his sights on me I don’t know whether to fight him or kiss him.
Kieran
I am the eldest bastard of one of the four founders of Arcadia University, and I will do anything to see my family fall.
The secrets I’ve kept hidden behind my heart now threaten to bury me alive with the arrival of Tomás. He consumes my space, my thoughts, my nightmares. I hate him for how he makes me feel. This toxic attraction between us forces me to question what matters most—vengeance, power, love. But Tomas doesn’t fit into my world of lies and violence and I’m not ready to lose it all for a beautiful dark temptation.
Kieran
“Keep it down. I’m studying,” I said like an idiot.
I caught him inhale deeply as if trying to rein in his own anger, then he got to his feet and stretched, forcing the thin white cotton of his t-shirt to rise revealing a sliver of tanned skin and a dusting of dark hair below his navel because the fucker had his basketball shorts riding low on his hips. I suddenly wondered if he was wearing underwear and snapped my eyes back to his face.
I hated him. He drew out an instinctual response to wrap my fingers around his thick neck and squeeze until he stopped moving. The intensity of it scared me. I didn’t know how much longer I could restrain myself from acting. I wanted him dead, or I wanted something worse. I needed him out. “The guys and I were talking. Perhaps it’s time for a truce.” The guy was always guarded, but, while his body took that defensive stance, his smile always deflected the threat. It bothered me that I couldn’t get a read on him.
He cocked a brow, then snorted. “Okay, I’ll take the hit. What are you proposing, exactly?” He crossed his arms across his chest.
What was I proposing? I wanted him out of my life. “I want you to go speak with Casera. Tell him this is not a fit for you and get out of my house.” I hadn’t intended my voice to go on the threatening level, but no taking that shit back now.
Tomás didn’t miss a beat. That smirk made an appearance and I wanted to slam my fist against his face. “Nah, I think I like it here.”
“I won’t make this request again.”
“Okay.”
I considered all the ways I could end him and bury him under a tree somewhere.
“Do you play?” he asked.
The question threw me off my game. I knew I must’ve looked like an idiot. “What?”
“The piano,” he said, gesturing to it as if I didn’t know what a piano was. “Do you play?”
“No. I don’t see the value of hobbies in the arts.”
“Music? You don’t see the value in music?” His brow lifted, calling out my idiocy.
I was an idiot for having this conversation with him. “Not everyone can create great original music.”
“You don’t have to. You play because it makes you feel good. Have you ever done anything that makes you feel good, Kieran?”
“What kind of question is that?”
He shrugged, crossing his arms across his chest again. “It’s just a question, bro.”
I clenched my teeth. I wasn’t sure what made me move, the cheesy smile on his face, or that word, bro. I hated it. I cupped his throat and squeezed. He didn’t move back and instinctively gripped my forearm. For a moment I thought he was going to swing. Give me an outlet to relieve this shit inside of me. He didn’t.
My hand on his throat pushed all my defensive strategies to the surface. He had three inches on me, probably ten pounds too, but he was uncoordinated. Always unbalanced. I wanted to sweep him to the floor and pound him with my fists. But his fingers dug into my arm and my body burned from it. I needed to get away from him.
“Don’t call me that. I’m not your friend or your brother.” I felt his Adam’s apple under my hand wobble as he swallowed. The sensation sent my dick inflating and I hated him for it. “Stay away from me.” I shoved him away.
He cupped his neck, breathing hard, pupils dilated. His hand twitched. Nerves, fear, or the adrenaline rush of his fight or flight response. I could see him considering his options and I wanted the fight so bad. Instead, he smiled. That smile that reached his beautiful eyes.
“You’re the one always picking the fight, Kieran,” he said. “Maybe you should stay away from me.”
Roxas writes dark, forbidden MM Romance with morally gray characters you will love to hate. Beautiful Dark Temptation is her first novel in a planned series.
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