Today I am so pleased to welcome E.L. Esch to Joyfully Jay. Eryn has come to share an exclusive excerpt from Seeing Red, plus brought along a great giveaway! Please join me in giving Eryn a big welcome!

Excerpt

Silo and I stumbled into the apartment, shivering like newborn pups. The rain hadn’t let up, and we’d had to run a block from the bus stop to get home. We’d pissed off a guy on the bus by getting the seats next to him wet, and we were still laughing about it when we flopped down beside each other on the couch.

“He looked so angry when he sat in a puddle of water.” Silo’s chest vibrated with laughter against my thigh. He shifted position and lay across my legs.

“Hah, yeah. He had a huge blotch soaked into the ass of his jeans.”

“Hey, Red?”

“Yeah?”

Silo rolled his tongue over his lips. “I’m wet.”

He sucked at being seductive, but he was so cute. Amazingly enough, I thought I was starting to like him. Not enough to show him my tattoo, but enough to pull him up against my chest and hold him without a reason.

“Let’s get you out of these clothes, sweetheart,” he said.

I would’ve thought he was being sarcastic if not for the gentle kisses he planted against my neck as he undid the buttons of my shirt. Feeling obligated, I undid his, too.

Damn, did he have nice shoulders. Usually I checked out a guy’s abs or his chest when his shirt was off. Silo wasn’t even that muscular of a guy, either. In fact, he was a little on the lean side. Maybe that was what turned me on—the strong yet agile way he held himself. Kind of like a jaguar, one of the largest yet most limber of wild cats.

I, on the other hand, was broad. “Toned,” as Silo had once put it when he caught me changing in the bathroom. Recalling that day embarrassed me so much that if I’d had hair, I would’ve hidden my eyes behind it. He’d walked in on me stark naked and stared straight at my dick like it was a lollipop and he had a serious sweet tooth. To make matters worse, I’d sported half a boner and forgotten my towel in the linen cabinet and had to ask him to get it. He’d walked out of the bathroom singing a song about peacocks by Katy Perry.

“You’re a lion,” Silo whispered into the curly brown hairs of my chest. “King of beasts, strong and wild and unyielding.” He nipped my left ear. “Gets me hot.”

“A lion, huh? Why’s that?”

“You’re my type. Nice, hard frame, sturdy, flat chest…” He grabbed my shoulders and squeezed. “Big shoulders. I wish you’d grow out your hair.”

The praise was flattering and all, but for some reason I didn’t like it. The way Silo looked at me felt strangely submissive, almost like he was trying to point out the strengths of my form so I would realize how small and frail his was in comparison. Startled, I gripped his wrist to stop him from unfastening my belt.

“You like this, don’t you?” I tightened my grip on his wrist, cutting off the flow of blood.

Silo jerked his hand away. “What?” he snapped, rubbing the now reddened flesh.

“Being dominated.”

The blush that flared up on Silo’s face even covered his forehead. “I… So?”

Why did that make me so angry? I grabbed Silo’s arms and pushed him down on the couch, looming over him. “Prison was a playground for you, wasn’t it?” Ouch. Even I knew that was low of me.

“Fuck off,” Silo snarled, struggling against my grip. He failed, though, because the lion is the king of beasts. Not the jaguar. Eventually he gave up his efforts and relaxed where I held him, panting angrily. “You’re such a prick. I like getting it, and you like giving it. What’s the problem? Get over yourself.”

Get over myself? He had to be joking. He liked being dominated? After all that shit in prison? I had a hard time buying that. “I don’t want you like they did.”

“What?”

Yeah—what? I was glad my mouth had things under control, because my mind sure as hell didn’t have a clue what was going on. “You say I’m a lion—the king of beasts. Does that make me your king? Is that what you want?” I saw yes on Silo’s lips and clenched his arms to shut him up. “No, it’s not. Stop bullshitting yourself.”

“So you know what I want, huh? Pray tell me.” Silo’s irises seemed to go stark white, not a trace of their usually bluish tint present. They reminded me of fire—the hottest kind—the kind that could melt steel.

“I want you,” I admitted.

A bit of blue returned to Silo’s eyes, almost like they’d cooled.

I let go of his arms and let myself fall atop him. He grunted with my weight but didn’t protest.

I felt his fingertips against my back and tried to mimic purring, which ended up sounding more like gargling nails. Silo laughed. “You know, I wasn’t lying. I like strong men…”

I sensed a but in his voice, so I didn’t interrupt.

“And I like rough sex, but I guess what I really want is just the freedom of not having to worry about my cellmate gouging my eyes out with a spork because I didn’t fellate his dick.”

“Well, don’t worry. You can fellate my dick only when you’re up to it.”

“You don’t deserve it. You’ve been a real ass lately.”

“Sorry. But now I have work, so I’m not in such a bad mood.”

“And all of my kisses were for naught.” Silo sighed. He methodically began stroking my spine. “I still think you’re a lion. I love your body.”

“Is that why you wanted a lion tattoo?”

“No, but now I’m further convinced that’s the design I want.” I felt his fingers curl under the edges of my shirt and stiffened.

“No.”

“Will you ever show me?”

If I liked Silo enough to cuddle on the couch, I sure as hell was a goner already.

Blurb

What would you do if you lost five years of freedom? If everything you’d ever known was torn away from you, all because the one person you counted on to save you didn’t come through?

This is the cruel reality for Gabriel “Red” Thatcher, convicted at age nineteen for the murder of his father. Now twenty-five and eight months out of prison, Red has nothing to his name and no one to help him through the horrifying memories of his past.

?Then he meets Silo Winters, a man so much like him yet so different that it drives Red crazy. How could someone who went through the same trauma he did in prison still look at life so cheerfully? And though Silo tries to show Red that life after hardship isn’t bleak and meaningless, Red finds it difficult after all he’s been through to let anyone in.

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Bio

I could copy-paste my biography from other websites, but that’s boring so instead here’s some fun facts about me:

• I own 2 crested geckos and an axolotl. What’s an axolotl? You know Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon? His design is based off one. Basically it looks like a cross between a tadpole and a wingless dragon. And they’re dumb. Very dumb. But cute!
• I have an unhealthy obsession with video games. I am an avid PC gamer, and can be found up most nights on World of Warcraft. I’m the first to admit I have a problem. For the Alliance!
• I could probably drop a fourth of my body-weight if I stopped drinking soda, but I won’t. I’m letting myself have this one.
• If I had a quarter for every time I swore, I’d probably be able to retire.
• I don’t know how I started writing M/M Romance, but if I had to blame anyone it’d be my best friend for getting me hooked on Yaoi in high school. You know who your are; you did this.

Connect with Eryn:

• Website: https://www.eleschbooks.com
• Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/author.elesch
• Facebook Group Signup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/elesch
• Instagram Follow – https://www.instagram.com/e_l_esch/
• Bookbub Follow – https://www.bookbub.com/profile/e-l-esch
• Goodreads Follow – https://www.goodreads.com/e-l-esch
• Amazon Follow –  https://amazon.com/author/elesch

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Seeing Red, Eryn is giving away 3 e-copies of Seeing Red! Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!

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