Oldie but Goodie Love – DRIVE ME HOME at Rick R. Reed’s Blog

Way to start my Wednesday! Thanks to Rick R. Reed and his “Good Karma, Good Books” feature I’m tickled to see the cover of DRIVE ME HOME gracing the web once again.

One of the joys of writing is how both hindsight and craft development fill me with thoughts of what I wished I’d explored further in this novel. But I’m pleased with how the story stands the test of time and changing political climates. It’s also been far too long since I’ve been back to Nevada!

DriveMeHomeweb

DRIVE ME HOME 

Available in print and eBook at Dreamspinner Press

Also available Amazon, ARe, and other eRetailers

 A December 2009 Top Pick at Dark Divas Reviews

5 Diva Review and a December 2009 Recommended Read at Dark Divas Reviews

 

Summary: 

Las Vegas isn’t just a glamorous, glitzy playground for high rollers, Elvis impersonators, and blushing newlyweds. It’s also a seedy, worn-out dumping ground for the lonely, the broken, and the lost. Eric Moss is one of those drifters, just marking time, until he meets two very different men, both of whom could change his life.

Marc Evans is a rich casino owner. He offers Eric safety, security, and a chance to regain some of his ravaged past. Brad Torres is a garage mechanic. He offers Eric nothing at all.

The choice might have been easy, if Eric weren’t intensely attracted to both men. He has to choose between Sin City’s sparkling lights and a life in the shadows—will he be able to live with his heart’s decision?

Excerpt:

“The come stains are the worst, you know.”

The voice came from behind a startled Eric. He instinctively tried to stand up, only to wince, rubbing his head where he hit it against the top of the limo’s unforgiving metal doorframe.

“Yeah.” The voice continued. “I hate them worse than puke. Come stains always mean somebody had a much better time than I did.”

Eric managed to stand up without further damage and turned to face the voice. One soft brown eye winked at him and then gave him an obvious up and down the likes of which he had not experienced in years. The guy probably knew everything up to and including the length of his dick when hard with that look.

“Hey.” He lightly protested the thoroughness. “Leave a guy some secrets.”

“Sorry.” The unrepentant smirk under the tousled dark curls didn’t match the sentiment and Eric was unable to keep himself from smiling back. Even though the unknotted tie was in danger of sliding off one shoulder the black pants, vest and white shirt immediately identified the newcomer as a fellow driver.

There were six of the stretch limousines parked in the big open bay of Discreet Limousine’s garage complex. Eric had seen a couple of the other drivers in passing when he showed up early for his new job, his intent to familiarize himself before the start of his shift. This dark haired beauty hadn’t been one of them.

“You the new guy?” Long eyelashes fanned down over the sideways glance as the newcomer inhaled on his cigarette. The wisps of smoke curled up as he pursed his lips slightly on the exhalation. Oh yeah, Eric thought. Definitely a real charmer.

“Yeah, that would be me. Name’s Eric, Eric Moss.” Eric politely stuck his hand out and watched as the smirk deepened but no hand was extended in response, just another exhalation of blue smoke.

“I’m Christopher Walsh. But, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll wait to shake until after you wash up.”

“What?” Eric stared at him, his grey-green eyes clouded with confusion. What was he missing?

“And just so you know, there are rubber gloves on the back shelf. Brad thinks it’s funny to hide them from us but wading elbow deep in strange DNA is not part of the job description.”

“Fuck.” Eric swore glumly as Christopher’s initial greeting finally made sense and he looked at the suddenly suspect stains on the back seat of the vehicle. The very same back seat he had been kneeling down and scrubbing only moments before.

“Exactly.” Christopher just laughed at the look on Eric’s face and dropped his cigarette on the concrete floor of the garage. He ground the butt out with his booted foot, uncaring of the mess left behind. “New to the business?”

“Like it doesn’t show?” Eric replied in disgust, amazed at his ignorance.

“You’re smart enough to clean your ride before your first trip out, that’ll help avoid some first night surprises. One of the reasons Dino didn’t last was that he didn’t keep his ride clean and the boss was getting too many complaints from the customers.”

The slender hips shifted, pressing against the gleaming side of the limo, pulling the already close fit of the trousers even tighter and offering Eric a better view of some very nice scenery.

“What were some of the other reasons?” Eric asked, curious about his predecessor even as he convinced himself there was no harm in looking at the show playing out before him.

Christopher avoided the question, just shifted his hips once again; smiling as Eric’s grey-green eyes automatically followed the motion. “Some of us go to the dive across the street when the shift’s over to wind-down. Why don’t you come with us?”

Eric hesitated, the young man was friendly enough, certainly a flirt, but it had been hard enough to snag this job with his background and he didn’t want to do anything stupid just yet.

“Don’t worry.” Christopher reassured him. “I’m not asking you to go steady or anything. Just some coffee with your fellow drivers.”

“Sorry.” Eric looked sheepish for a moment. “Yeah, sure. That’d be fine.”

The overhead intercom crackled to life and an impatient voice echoed through the garage.
“C’mon, Walsh, stop eye-fucking the new guy and get ready to roll.”

Eric could only smile once again as he watched Christopher give the overhead speaker the finger before sauntering off with a wave. Realizing he had laughed more today than he had since his arrival in Las Vegas he admired the young man’s slender hips as they provocatively swiveled their way out the door before heading to the back of the garage where the cleaning supplies were kept.

He was determined to find those rubber gloves and finish cleaning things up before he took the big stretch out. God, he was nervous. It was his first night driving the busy Vegas streets and he wanted everything to go smoothly.

Eric needed to keep this job. He didn’t have anything or anyone to fall back on.
Just like Christopher had said there were boxes of latex gloves piled up behind an assortment of red shop cloths. Not the best hiding place but if you didn’t know to look, like Eric hadn’t, it was easy to miss them. He wondered about the asshole who thought it was a joke to hide them.

“You learn fast.”

Eric spun around and waved his hand at the cloud of cigarette smoke that filled the air behind him. Did everyone who worked here smoke?

The man standing behind him might have been attractive beneath his covering of grease and grime; it was hard to say. He was wearing overalls so encrusted with dirt they probably could have stood up by themselves and Eric couldn’t tell what color the hair was underneath the filthy bandana that covered his head.

But the eyes. Damn. What a pair of eyes. If Christopher was all warm and cozy this guy was pure ice. Eric felt immediately exposed, naked beneath the laser sharp focus of the pale blue eyes that traveled over his body.

The touch of those eyes burned.

“Hey.” Eric replied. He felt awkward and fumbled for the right words. “I was just looking for these.” He flapped the gloves in his hand at the other man and immediately flushed at how stupid that was. It was obvious what he had been doing.

“You the new guy?” The words were the same as Christopher’s but the tone, the intonation, Hell; the very lips that shaped the words were different.

Eric couldn’t ignore the pull of the other man. All of Christopher’s flirting hadn’t impacted him the way one glance from this man did. It was like a signal his body was trained to receive and one he had hoped never to receive again. Right now everything inside Eric was pinging madly away, begging for a chance to feel those callused hands on his bare skin, pressing on his throat, holding him down. This guy was dangerous.

Eric wanted him.

 

 

 

 

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