EXPOSED: A Romance Anthology 

Tamsen Parker
THROWN OFF TRACK
Teague has been License to Game’s bassist for over a decade, during which time he’s slept with almost everyone in his path. But it’s always felt like going through the motions. Until he sees his bandmate Christian naked at a charity photoshoot and suddenly, he knows what it is to want.

 

All right, then. He can stay, he wants to stay, and I… How do people get anything done with all this wanting to have sex? I mean, I can’t believe that everyone thinks about it as much as I have been lately, but maybe they do? It’s a wonder we don’t all starve to death, sitting around thinking about banging, or better yet, actually getting some action. Which is honest-to-god all I can think of right now. Yeah, I’m pretending that I can think about other, practical things like does Christian have to go home for something or can he stay here with me so I can explore him more?

I want to know every inch of him. Literally, every single inch. I close the small gap that’s in between us, and our knees knock together. Even that boney, awkward, hairy collision makes my pulse skip. I want…I don’t know, really, I just want.

And selfishly, I want to be able to take on my own time. It’s not that I don’t care about Christian enjoying himself, because I do, very much. But there’s only so much a guy can hold in his head, even when it’s an enormous block head like mine, and keeping myself under control while experiencing all of this for basically the first time is eating up most of my brain.

I want to ask him for something, but I don’t know how he’ll feel about it. I suppose I won’t ever know if I don’t ask him, and I trust him to be honest with me.

“Hey, Christian?”

“Yeah?” His dark brows go up slightly and the corners of his mouth follow. It gives the impression that he’s amused that I’m addressing him by name even though there’s no one else here I could possibly be speaking to. Because I’m totally not trying to buy time or anything, nope…

“I wanted to ask you something, and I need you to say no if it’s not okay with you. Promise?”

“Yeah,” he says lazily, as if that’s not even a possibility. But he has no idea what I’m going to ask. Maybe it’ll freak him the fuck out and he’ll suddenly remember he has some bathtub grout that’s overdue for cleaning and has to get out of here right now.

“Would you…would you lie there? So I can touch you? Do stuff to you?”

It sounds serial-killer creepy when I say it like that, and my throat starts to swell with embarrassment because ew, gross. Could I be any worse at this? It’s a good thing this happened with Christian and not some rando who has no basis for trusting me at all, whereas Christian at least has a good eighteen years of me not being a total shithead to draw on.

He blinks but doesn’t say no. “How do you mean?”

How to explain this without sounding even pervier?

“It’s not that I want you to be helpless. Not even in a kinky, consensual way.” Or do I? Shit, man. I’ve never thought of myself as kinky, but who knows what the hell else I’m going to discover about myself? But for the moment, that’s not what this is about. “I want to be able to touch you and kiss you and explore you without…without also taking into account what you might do. It surprised me sometimes last night. You would touch me, and I loved it, but I… It was like being struck by lightning. Or maybe having Declan rub his feet on the carpet in winter and then coming up behind me to give me the shock of my life. I want…I’d like a little more control, please. For now.”

“I wish you would’ve said something last night if I scared you. I didn’t—”

“You didn’t scare me, exactly, it was more like, ‘whoa, what the hell was that?’ But not in a bad way. I would’ve told you to stop. I did tell you to stop.”

He nods, his bangs that are cut too long doing that flop-over-his-eye thing that makes him look mysterious and not as though he forgot to get a haircut like I would.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” My echo makes me sound stupid. But he smiles.

“Yeah, okay. If that’s what you want, if that’s what you need, we can give it a try.”

“It’s not going to be too much for you? I mean, look, I know I’m huge and that can scare people. I don’t want to scare you, ever.”

“Are you going to stop if I say stop?”

“Of course.”

“Then what’s there to be afraid of?”

I can tell he doesn’t get it, not totally, but he’s also going to give this to me because he wants me to be comfortable. Wants me to be happy. Trusts me. And all that stuff makes a warm gooey ball of liking Christian a whole goddamn lot alongside the burning fire of wanting to jump his bones. Yeah, it’s a problem.

A problem I will think about later, because right now I have a man to relish.

About Tamsen Parker:

Tamsen Parker is a stay-at-home mom by day, USA Today bestselling erotic romance writer by naptime. Her novella CRAVING FLIGHT was named to the Best of 2015 lists of Heroes and Heartbreakers, Smexy Books, Romance Novel News, and Dear Author. Heroes and Heartbreakers called her Compass series “bewitching, humorous, erotically intense and emotional.”

She lives with her family outside of Boston, where she tweets too much, sleeps too little and is always in the middle of a book. Aside from good food, sweet rieslings and gin cocktails, she has a fondness for monograms and subway maps. She should really start drinking coffee.

 

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Title: EXPOSED: A Romance Anthology

Publisher: Karen Stivali

Release Date (Print & Ebook): March 13, 2018

Length (Print & Ebook): ~400k words

Subgenre: contemporary romance/mixed pairings

Of note: This collection contains m/f, m/m, f/f and menage stories, some of which contain BDSM

Order:

Amazon http://amzn.to/2C8PkWV
iBooks https://apple.co/2BR74KR
Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/2Bln8U3
Kobo http://bit.ly/2nWp6lz

 

Book blurb:

Hot. Naked. Guys. Reading.
When the sexiest Top 30 Under 30 men agree to pose naked for the “Expose Yourself To A Good Book” charity calendar, their hot bodies aren’t the only thing that gets EXPOSED. Ten brand new romances with M/F, M/M, F/F and menage pairings from bestselling and award winning authors, there’s something for everyone in this limited release anthology.

Annabeth Albert
LEVEL UP
When Landon, a genius physicist, is picked for a charity calendar, he must deal with an inconvenient attraction to Bailey, his rising-star photographer. Can he slay enough demons from his past to ensure a future together with him?

Karen Booth
WISHING
Jobless and painfully single, Samantha agrees to drive musician Duncan to a photo shoot. He’s in town for only five days, so sexy, and she’s eager for a no-strings fling. But Duncan shoots straight for the heart, making her unsure how she’ll ever survive his goodbye.

Amy Jo Cousins
KATE LIKES GIRLS
Garden center manager Kate Rhee is on a mission. No more hook ups with women or second-guessing her recent break up with an unavailable man. Too bad the foxy, pink-haired bar owner she meets at a naked calendar photo shoot has sworn off girlfriends. Because Kate isn’t doing casual. She can totally resist that temptation. Totally.

Robin Covington
GHOST
Oliver Burns publicly bragged he’d sign the reclusive artist “G”- creator of the First Nations graphic novel, Ghost Warriors – to his comic publishing company. But that gets tough when “G” is Gareth Rain – the man he pulled a post-one-night-stand runner on years ago and the man he’s never forgotten.

Santino Hassell
UNDOING THE DARLING

 *** Due to recent events, please read this statement from Tamsen Parker regarding Hassell’s involvement in this anthology:

Dear Romance Community:

We came together on the EXPOSED anthology because we believed in love and happily ever after for everyone – no matter their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, identity, or how they chose to find their most loving relationship. With that in mind, we wrote stories that ran the spectrum of romantic and sexual pairings and we loved doing it.

That being said, we cannot ignore the recent situation involving Santino Hassell. We also cannot ignore the support of this anthology from readers, bloggers, blog sites, and reviewers and how your support of this project might be questioned or dimmed by recent events. To that end, we have removed his story from the anthology and his name from the cover. However, it is too late in the publishing process to change the content of the book before it releases on March 13th. This is our plan: as soon as the book is released and we are allowed to the change the content, we will submit a new file and cover. Once those changes go through, you will be able to sync the new content onto your e-reader or device.

We thank you for your continued support.

Vanessa North
RIGGED
For Kaitlyn, seeing her best friend Gordon naked is no big deal—until watching Sean tie him up changes everything.

Tamsen Parker
THROWN OFF TRACK
Teague has been License to Game’s bassist for over a decade, during which time he’s slept with almost everyone in his path. But it’s always felt like going through the motions. Until he sees his bandmate Christian naked at a charity photo shoot and suddenly, he knows what it is to want.

Roan Parrish
NATURAL ENEMIES
When buttoned-up botanist Stefan Albemarle meets freewheeling urban gardener Milo Rios, it’s hatred at first sight. But hatred quickly turns to lust as Milo shows him how exquisite it can feel to lose control. When opposites attract, love blooms in unexpected places.

Tiffany Reisz
THE WATERMARK
Jason “Still” Waters’ life looks perfect from the outside—money, fame, and the words “World Champion Bull-Rider” after his name. But Jason has a secret, one he never planned on telling anybody…until he meets Simone. She’s the kinky girl of his dreams…and his conservative family’s worst nightmare.

Karen Stivali
LEGAL BRIEFS
When organizing a naked charity calendar puts Rose’s tenure bid in jeopardy, the last person she wants help from is Michael, the gorgeous, arrogant lawyer she butted heads with during his shoot. He’ll defend her for free, but if their secrets come out they could both pay with their hearts.

“The authors of this anthology are hoping to show readers that romance series, like the real world, should reflect our society and should feature the stories of people falling in love without regard to their gender and sexuality. That is why you’ll find m/f, m/m, f/f and menage stories all within this collection.” –Karen Stivali, Curator and Publisher, Exposed: A Romance Anthology