Today I am so pleased to welcome E.M. Denning to Joyfully Jay. E.M.  has come to share an exclusive excerpt from her latest release, Best Laid Plans (which I reviewed here and really enjoyed). Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Excerpt

The driver arrived and Max yanked the back door open and all but threw himself on the seat. He rattled off his address and rode in blissful silence. His heat had never hit him so hard and so fast. It had started that morning before Chase even woke. Max woke first and left his husband sleeping while he had a shower and readied himself for work. While in the shower, the scent of the body wash they both used had Max’s cock filling and twitching, hanging heavy between his legs.

The car hit a pothole, jolting Max and to his horror, the first signs of slick wet the seat of his pants. He kept his hands balled in tight fists at his sides. His cock strained in his pants. Trapped, it throbbed and ached. He dared not touch himself, he’d shame himself for sure. He wanted to press against something and rut. Not something. Chase. Thoughts of his husband fueled his imagination. They’d had sex but once, weeks ago now. Since then they’d cuddled and kissed. They took turns sleeping in the arms of the other man, seeking intimacy which had nothing to do with orgasms. They’d grown closer since their last time together and now Max could hardly wait to be with him again.

But he was also afraid. He wanted Chase to want him for reasons beyond hormones and primal urges. Chase had to like him, Max needed him to like him. He didn’t want Chase to feel pressured into anything, but they hadn’t really discussed Max’s heat in detail. It had always been this far-off thing, this intangible event that would happen someday. But someday was now and Max didn’t know if Chase wanted to help him through it.

Without realizing it the driver had pulled up at Max’s house. Max pulled out his credit card and let the driver tap it on the machine, accepting payment instantly. Max climbed out of the car and headed for the door on shaky legs. The dampness of his underwear a reminder of how out of his mind he currently was.

He pulled the door open and walked into the foyer, kicking his shoes off in a random direction he started tugging at his shirt, trying to get the buttons undone.

Chase came around the corner with a look of concern.

“Are you okay?” He gave Max a once over, taking a step closer before it finally hit him. Max watched with extreme satisfaction as Chase inhaled deeply. “You’re… you’re in heat.” Chase stood his ground, watching Max with a sudden ferocious intensity which had Max leaking from his back passage even more.

Slick trickling down his thighs, Chase’s alpha scent suddenly surrounding him, Max couldn’t get his fingers to work the buttons of his shirt. “Heat,” Max managed to get the word past his lips. “I’m in heat.”

Chase stepped closer and Max had to force himself to stay still. “Max,” his voice was impossibly deeper. Deeper and huskier and unless it was Max’s imagination, Chase moved closer. “Please say I can help you through this.” Chase sounded as if he were in pain. As if the prospect of receiving any answer except for yes would mortally wound him.

Blurb

In a world where omegas rule, alphas must provide. Maxwell Moore is a successful omega who loves his job as CEO of his family’s automotive company. After successfully navigating the company through an economic slump, he wants nothing more than to keep doing what he loves, but his alpha brother, Howard, has other plans. Faced with the threat of being forced into a marriage he doesn’t want, Maxwell comes up with a plan.

Diagnosed as infertile when he was a teen, Chase Grant is a lonely, unmatched alpha with no hope of getting the life he’s always wanted. Working a menial, but fulfilling job at an animal shelter, he doesn’t expect things to change for the better. When he’s approached by a dashing older omega with a mutually beneficial proposal, Chase can’t think of a single reason to say no.

Weeks turn into months and feelings develop between the two men, proving love knows no bounds and fate yields to no one. When an unexpected development turns their world upside down, Max and Chase come together, only to find their separate goals are now the same and they must work together to save the life they’ve built and make their dreams come true.

Best Laid Plans is set in Star Valley, a fictional omegaverse where centuries of power struggles have seen the omegas come out on top. Alphas still provide, but it’s the omegas who call the shots. This book also contains a little angst, a fetch-loving canine, a dash of mpreg, and some naughty knotting.

Bio

EM Denning is notoriously bad at writing author bio’s, but notoriously (one can hope) good at writing books, especially books where people fall in love. She lives in Canada, eats poutine, and is generally your typical, coffee-fuelled writer.