Heart2Heart: A Charity Anthology, Volume 3
Release Date (Print & Ebook): October 1 – December 30, 2019 only. This collection will be available for only 90 days before it’s gone forever.
Lily Morton is thrilled to offer an exclusive look at her Heart2Heart charity anthology contribution, “The Dog Walker:.
About The Dog Walker by Lily Morton: Simeon Frith is a very successful businessman with everything that he needs at the tips of his fingers. Until a bad accident sidelines him and he discovers that there is actually something he wants that he can’t have – Ziggy Tuesday. The much younger surfer is carefree and gorgeous and determined to move on when Simeon is back on his feet and no longer needs his help. Can Simeon manage to keep hold of Ziggy when the summer is over?
Excerpt:
I smile as he leans over me. “Thank you,” I mumble. I stare at him intently, but avoiding my eyes, he gives a sunny grin.
“No problem, Mr Frith. You know I’m a full-service company. I believe in the customer always being satisfied.”
“I wish you’d stop saying that,” I grumble, watching him get up and walk towards the bathroom, his long blond hair tangled down his back and the muscles in his small bum bunching and releasing. “Makes you sound like an advert for a credit card.” I pause. “Or a tart.”
“I won’t ever kiss you, Mr Frith,” he shouts. “And you can’t make me. I’m saving my mouth for the man of my dreams.”
“I can’t help feeling that in your head I’m wearing a billowing shirt and staring moodily out to sea,” I say, subsiding into the sheets. I stare idly out of the window, watching the curtains shift lazily in the breeze and hearing the ever-present roar of the surf. I can tell by his determined cheerfulness that we’re not going to discuss what happened during sex and I sigh, feeling my languid mood start to ebb away. I shake my head and push away the silly soft feelings. It’s just sex, I tell myself. Epic sex, but still just fucking. Don’t spoil it.
Behind me a toilet flushes and water runs. I turn and there he is, walking back towards me. It’s a sight I’d love to photograph if I hadn’t lost the use of my body after the last intense bout of sex. He’s slim, with an almost coltish grace, all long legs and wide shoulders. His face is heart-shaped, with high cheekbones and a lush mouth, and his odd eyes look quizzically at me,–one blue, one green. They give him a quirky look, as if he has two people in that one slim body. If he does, both of them are laid-back.
He winks at me with the customary smile on his face. It’s puzzling because I’ve always before found people who smile all the time to be a little unnerving. Like if the circumstances changed and a zombie drug was released, they’d be first in the queue to eat you. But not him. I’ve found in the last few weeks of knowing him that he has a multitude of smiles that stretch those full lips. I like his quizzical grin, as well as the ones that stretch his mouth in the second after he’s broken out into his lazy laughter. I even like the wry ones when he’s teasing me. But my favourite is the one he has now–relaxed and languorous and quite simply happy. I’ve never met anyone like Ziggy Tuesday with his capacity to live in the moment.
About the Heart2Heart: A Charity Anthology, Volume 3
Once upon a time, a group of authors wondered… What if the Heart2Heart app — the dating app with a glitch that matched up the oddest, most perfect couples, and sponsored the charity date raffles that helped dozens of people find love — offered a classifieds section, too?
Need a handyman who knows how to wear a tool belt? Have a closet of drag costumes that needs a new home? How about finally tracking down that guy who made the perfect drink, or who’s just the right height to reach the top shelf?
Join some of your favorite authors of gay romance as they bring you sixteen brand-new stories inspired by reader suggestions!
Once again, all proceeds from this collection will go to the authors’ favorite LGBTQ charities, to ensure that love in all its forms will be celebrated and protected every single day of the year!
Charity information:
With this third volume we are proud to be donating a portion of our proceeds to each of the following charities:
LGBT Youth Line: a Queer, Trans, Two-Spirit* youth-led organization that affirms and supports the experiences of youth (29 and under) across Ontario. We do this by:
-Providing anonymous peer support and referrals;
-Training youth to provide support to other youth; and
-Providing resources so youth can make informed decisions.
Kind Space: committed to providing accessible resources, events, social, and educational programming to celebrate and support people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.
The Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity: aspiring to support and transform Canadian and indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast in a shared vision of a discrimination-free gender and sexually diverse world.
More info: The first 2 volumes of Heart2Heart made a combined total of more than $50k USD. The net proceeds were donated to six incredible charities, including One-n-Ten, Ali Forney Center, Trevor Project, Rainbow Railroad, Trans LifeLine, and the Bisexual Resource Center. These volumes are no longer available, but thankfully the passion for the project hasn’t faded. Every step of the process has been donated:
- Cover design, logo, and promotional graphics by AngstyG
- Beta reading, editing, proofreading by the team at LesCourt Author Services, as well as Allison Roy
- Promotional posting by LesCourt Author Services and A Novel Take PR
- And of course, the authors’ time and efforts
Learn more about participating authors:
Piper Scott (writing as Emma Alcott)
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Damon Suede
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Aimee Nicole Walker
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This does look good. Thanks for the excerpt.