Soft Alabaster by Megan Slayer
Celestial Mates, book 7
Contemporary Paranormal LGBTQ Romance
M/M, Anal Sex, Masturbation
From Evernight Publishing
Art by Jay Aheer
One man out of time and another desperate to
share his life with that perfect someone. Can their answers come from a broken
curse?
Owen Reed loves his secondhand store, but he’d rather run it with a partner. He’s tired of being lonely and having one-night stands. He wants a love to last forever. When he ends up with a statue of a man in pain, he has no idea how special this statue could be. Is love possible with the pained figure?
Sydney Keeler knows he belongs anywhere but locked in alabaster. When he’s delivered to Owen’s store, the unexpected happens—he can feel Owen’s hands on him. He wants to break free and be with the man with the sparkling blue eyes. Can Owen break the curse? If so, will Owen accept a man who’s been cursed to exist in alabaster? Can they have the love they deserve?
One kiss will determine their fate.
Owen Reed loves his secondhand store, but he’d rather run it with a partner. He’s tired of being lonely and having one-night stands. He wants a love to last forever. When he ends up with a statue of a man in pain, he has no idea how special this statue could be. Is love possible with the pained figure?
Sydney Keeler knows he belongs anywhere but locked in alabaster. When he’s delivered to Owen’s store, the unexpected happens—he can feel Owen’s hands on him. He wants to break free and be with the man with the sparkling blue eyes. Can Owen break the curse? If so, will Owen accept a man who’s been cursed to exist in alabaster? Can they have the love they deserve?
One kiss will determine their fate.
Excerpt
©2020 Megan Slayer, All Rights Reserved
Sydney
hated his pose. God, he’d been in the midst of begging for his life and for
Arai’s life to be spared when Zeus cursed them. He hadn’t deserved to be
reduced to stone. So, he’d been a terrible lover to Zeus and horrible at his
job of guarding him. When he’d signed on to be a protector, he thought it was a
joke. He hadn’t realized Zeus really wanted someone to play bodyguard for him.
Sydney had been in love with the idea of living on Olympus and protecting a
god. He never would’ve guessed Zeus truly demanded monogamy, even when he played
around with everyone on the staff.
Good
Lord. Who said things like, “I want you to come to Olympus and be my warrior”?
No one that Sydney knew, yet he’d followed Zeus to a place that seemed like a
dream and better than any fantasy.
Zeus
hadn’t been joking.
Then
again, Sydney hadn’t believed the silver fox was a true god. Were other gods
roaming the earth? According to Zeus, the entire clan of Olympian deity lived
there. Sydney hadn’t seen anyone besides Zeus, but he hadn’t been paying
attention.
The adventure
of living on Olympus was more than enough for him. He loved a good quest,
especially if he could be himself. Zeus hadn’t minded he was gay. In fact, Zeus
encouraged him to explore his sexuality. He spent his days guarding Zeus and
his nights fucking him. All had been well until Sydney met Arai.
Arai
had been everything Sydney ever wanted in a man—beautiful, masculine, sexy, and
interested in him. He and Sydney guarded Zeus and stole off at night to make
love. None of Zeus’s warnings had been enough to prevent him and Arai from
getting together.
Sydney
had been in love with Arai and felt confident about being out. He could love
who he wanted and not be ashamed. He even embraced the idea he’d upset Zeus,
but things would work out. They always did—until Zeus didn’t cooperate. He
wanted Sydney to be his plaything and belong to no one else.
He
winced, although no one could see the gesture. He still remembered the panic in
Arai’s eyes when he’d been found guilty of being with Sydney and the pain of
losing their relationship.
Now
Sydney couldn’t tell anyone about his troubles or his curse. How could he if he
couldn’t talk? At least he didn’t have that awful sheet over him and he wasn’t
in the musty old house.
His
brother, Max, hadn’t appreciated him and his younger brother, Stan, hadn’t
wanted him. They had no idea he was locked in the alabaster. All they knew was
a sculpture of someone resembling their brother had shown up in the parlor of
the family home.
Voices
caught his attention. He hadn’t liked when the woman caressed him, but he
wanted the man to return. He could gaze at the fellow who seemed to run the
shop where he was now housed. He’d been locked in the family parlor, moved to a
barn, left in a garage, and then shipped to a house where Max left him in the
back room. Now he lived in a “junk shop”—as the younger girl called the place.
The
man with the sparkling eyes stood in front of Sydney. “Well, you’re all mine.”
He folded his arms. “I’m not sure you’re worth anything, but I’m stuck with
you.” His blue eyes flashed and the thin outcropping of hairs on his chin
caught the light.
Heat,
like the rush of excitement he felt when he’d first seen Arai, washed over him.
Who was this man and why did he seem to kick the temperature up so high?
