Book two in the Thomas Elkin series.
Sometimes it’s not the two people in a
relationship who fight falling in love, sometimes it’s those who love us that
fight against it the most.
Finally together,
forty-four year old Tom, and twenty-two year old Cooper, are ready to show the
world they’re together. They’ve
established their relationship is worth it, and want to share it with their
families.
Both men thought
accepting the age difference was their adversity to overcome, and theirs alone.
Their loved ones,
however, will prove them wrong.
For their families,
lines are drawn and start blur. Through
a series of events, life shakes Tom’s foundations, the lines for him have never
been clearer.
Excerpt 1:
The view from my office was spectacular. It was a beautiful clear day,
the sky was a brilliant blue and while most people would have cursed having to
work, I was still smiling. Line five on my desk phone
lit up. My personal line. I picked up the receiver knowing who it would be.
A familiar voice spoke in my ear. “Mr
Elkin.”
I chuckled into the
phone. “Mr Jones.” It was the third phone call that day. “Don’t you have enough
to do?”
“Oh, I have plenty,” Cooper answered. “But
you haven’t agreed yet.”
“I told you it wasn’t really my scene,” I
told him again. “Why don’t you take one of your other friends?”
“You mean younger friends,” he replied. “I don’t want any of them to come
with me. I want you to come with me.”
Cooper had two tickets to see some
god-awful too-loud band at Madison Square Garden, and right or wrong he wanted
me to go with him.
“Is this not something we could discuss
over dinner?”
“I like annoying you at work,” he said
cheerfully. “Usually if I pester you enough, you’ll just agree with me to shut
me up.”
I groaned. “Is that a skill you work on, or
is it a natural-born talent?”
“It’s a Gen Y thing.”
“It’s a Cooper Jones thing.”
He chuckled into the phone. Then his tone of voice changed to a playful whisper. “Come on,
baby. You know you want to. It’s Linkin Park. They’re my favourite.”
“Lincoln who?”
He burst out laughing this
time, and I sighed. “I’ll talk to you about it
tonight,” I told him. “Will you come over?”
“That depends.” I could tell he was still
smiling.
“On what?”
“On you saying yes to the concert.”
“I have a lot to do today…”
“Then agree with me.”
“Goodbye, Cooper.”
I hung up, still smiling, and not even half
a minute later, my private line lit up again. I pressed the flashing button and
laughed. “All right, I’ll go with you if it will shut you up so I can get some
work done.”
Except Cooper didn’t laugh. There was only
silence. I quickly checked the line to confirm it was on my personal line and
not a business call, just as another familiar voice said, “Excuse me?”
Shit.
Author
Links –
The Thomas Elkin Series Blurb:
When successful New York architect,
forty-four year old Thomas Elkin meets twenty-two year old intern Cooper Jones,
he had no idea how much his life would change.
The blueprints on love, life and
careers are sent back to the drawing board as both men realize their plans are
about to be re-drawn forever.
Generation versus generation,
traditional versus contemporary, they’re about to prove to the world that the
old and new can be the perfect design.
Book two in the Thomas Elkin series. Sometimes it’s not the two people in a relationship who fight falling in love, sometimes it’s those who love us that fight against it the most.
Finally together, forty-four year old
Tom, and twenty-two year old Cooper, are ready to show the world they’re
together. They’ve established their relationship is worth it, and want to
share it with their families.
Both men thought accepting the age
difference was their adversity to overcome, and theirs alone.
Their loved ones, however, will prove
them wrong.
For their families, lines are drawn and
start blur. Through a series of events, life shakes Tom’s foundations,
the lines for him have never been clearer.
“You nervous?” I asked him.
He looked surprised by my question.
“No. Should I be?”
I smiled at his confidence. “I just
don’t think Sofia will be very understanding. No matter what she says, just
remember, I’m on your side.”
“Ryan’s mom always liked me,” he said.
“She likes you as Ryan’s friend, yes,”
I told him. “But as my boyfriend…”
He shrugged. “And all the guys who’ll
be here this weekend?” he asked. “All Ryan’s friends, some of my friends,
they’ll all be here too. We’re meeting them as a couple
too.”
Shit. I hadn’t given that a thought.
Then Cooper took his hand off my thigh
and looked out of the window as he spoke. “If you don’t want to…”
I pulled the car off to the side of the
road, right near the driveway to the Casa. I think I startled him. He looked at
me, wide-eyed. “Cooper, listen to me,” I said seriously. “I don’t care what
anyone else thinks. I know some people will have a hard time with us being
together, because we’re gay men, and because of the age difference. But I don’t
care. I’m proud to call you my boyfriend. For the life of me I can’t figure out
why you’d want to be with me, but you do, and I’m more than happy to walk in
there, holding your hand. But I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“I don’t feel pressured,” he said. “And
I can’t figure out why you’d want to be with me either, but you do.”
I nodded. “Yes, I do.”
He smiled, and leaned over the console
and kissed me. “Thank you.”
I sighed and looked out of the
windshield. “Well, this is it.”
Cooper followed my gaze, to the stone
gate posts, to the chiselled sandstone sign on the post that read Casa de
Elkin.
“It’s named after you?”
I nodded. “I designed this house,” I
told him. “We named it Casa de Elkin, but have called it the Casa for years.”
Cooper gave me a weak smile. “Well
then,” he said, trying to sound upbeat. “Let’s do this.”
I slipped the car into first gear and
pulled into the drive. I parked the car near the closed garage doors and by the
time I’d popped the trunk, Ryan was walking out to meet us. He gave me a bit of
a hug, then bumped fists with Cooper. “Hey,” he said. “Most of the guys will
get here in the morning. Mom said it might be better if they all crash in the
pool room, or wherever they pass out,” he said with a knowing smile. “But you
guys have a guest room in the house.”
A guest room.
Ryan looked at me a little
apologetically. “Sorry.”
“Don’t you apologise,” I told him.
“It’s not my house anymore.”
We grabbed our bags and the gift box
from the trunk and walked towards the front door. Cooper asked me quietly,
“Have you been back here in the last five years?”
“I spent two weeks here right after we
separated,” I told him. “But not since then.”
“Come on,” Ryan said, opening the door.
He turned to us and whispered, “Mom’s in the kitchen.”
I took a deep breath and followed Ryan
through the front living room and into the large open kitchen, where Sofia was
dicing fruit.
She looked well. She was wearing a
white dress and her trademark gold jewellery and her brown hair was pulled back
in a ponytail. She looked at me, then at Ryan and finally at Cooper. She
recognised him immediately. “Oh my, Cooper? Is that you?”
“Mrs Elkin,” he said politely.
She gave me a tight smile, but then
leaned in and kissed Cooper’s cheek. “It’s so good to see you. Ryan never
mentioned you were coming.” Then she looked at me. “Did you bring Cooper with
you? I thought you were bringing your friend.”
There was a beat of absolute silence
then I said, “I did.” Sofia looked at me then at Ryan and Cooper, then back to
me. “I brought Cooper…my boyfriend.”
Sofia laughed, but when I took Cooper’s
hand, her smile died a slow, painful death. She looked kind of horrified. “Is
this some kind of joke?”
I am many things; a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer.
I have pretty, pretty boys who live in my head, who don’t let me sleep at night unless I give them life with words.
I like it when they do dirty, dirty things…but I like it even more when they fall in love.
I used to think having people in my head talking to me was weird, until one day I happened across other writers who told me it was normal.
I’ve been writing ever since…
Where can you find me?
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