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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Happy Release Day! Excerpt: Blame it on the Bass (Heart of Fame #6) by Lexxie Couper

Description: 18+

Can they mend his broken heart?

After a horrific accident robs rock legend Levi Levistan and his long-time partner, Corbin, of their dream of becoming parents, Levi is lost in a sea of grief. Until he runs into an old high school flame and their chemistry reignites.

Corbin Smith is intent on bridging the chasm between their hearts. But witnessing his lovers steamy onstage kiss with a woman jolts him to the core with sexual arousal. And he realizes the key to their healing is standing in Levis arms. 

As an erotic romance editor, nothing much unsettles Sonja Stone. Shes not even surprised at her bodys powerful reaction to Levis kiss. But when Corbin approaches them, eyes smoldering with hunger, his suggestion shakes her to the core.

Sensing their unspoken wounds, Sonja agrees to take a chance on a threesome. Their union is explosively perfect, but something is holding Levi back from sealing their searing emotional connection. Something that could destroy their love once and for all…

Warning: This book contains angst, torment, sarcasm, humour, scorching m/m sex, searing m/f sex and explosive m/m/f sex. And a memory of a horrific past that may disturb some readers.

EXCERPT


Are you going to tell me whats bugging you?”

Levi Levistan dragged his stare from the crystal glass in his hand, currently a quarter full of Chivas Regal scotch whiskey, the same liquid currently burning a path down his throat.

He grimaced at the man sitting opposite him. “Not much to say. Corbin hasnt said a word to me for over a month. We havent slept together since the funeral. Havent touched since then either. To be honest, I dont even know where he is at this very moment in time. Could be back in the States." He shrugged, raised the whiskey to his mouth and swallowed the last of it in a single gulp.

He grimaced again. Yep, theres the burn all right.

Nick Blackthorne raised his own glass and drained it with equal speed before wiping at his lips with the back of his hand. “The funeral messed you both up, Levi.”
Levi stared at his now empty glass. “You can say that again.”

In the background, Nicks baby daughter—now a healthy two-month-old and well on her way to emulating her daddys phenomenal voice if the protests she made at having her nappy changed earlier were anything to go by—cooed happily.

The sound tore at Levis heart. He knew Nick was doing his best to keep Chloe away from him. Knew Lauren, Nicks wife, had taken the babe into the back guest room of Nicks sprawling home to spare Levi the pain of seeing her, but at every healthy, happy gurgle he heard—no matter how faint—his gut clenched. It seemed he was a masochist in his grief.

Every time little Chloe made a sound, he strained to hear more.

Ached to hear more.

Ached for what should have been.

Levi placed his glass on the coffee table between him and the man once considered the greatest rock star in the world and then reached for the bottle of Chivas. He didnt drink in excess. Hadnt done for years. Not since the bands wild days. But with the way life had fucked him over these last two months…

Burn the pain away, mate. Burn it away.

A heavy prickling sensation on the top of his head told him Nick watched him. Silently. It was the singers way. Not say much, observe. Take it all in. Levi was the same. It was one of the reasons he and Nick had connected when theyd first been introduced by Walter Winchester, Nicks long-time record producer in a recording studio in Melbourne close to twenty years ago. Levi was never meant to be Nicks permanent bass player, but theyd clicked straight away. From that point onward, Nick had refused to perform with anyone else on bass.

“You think Ive had enough?” he asked, pouring himself another drink. His third? Or fourth? He didnt really know.

“I didnt say that.”

Nicks calm response scraped at Levis frayed state of mind. He picked his glass up and settled back in the armchair, staring at the amber liquid within in. “Didnt have to.”

Silence greeted his response.

Levi let his head fall back against the chair, moving his gaze to the window behind Nick. “Remember when Jax cracked his head open the night he fell off the stage? In London?”

The sound of ice settling in his glass punctuated the silence. “Strings called me a coldhearted bastard, remember that?”

“Because you told us to continue the show without him.”

“Yeah. We sent Brutal and Aslin to the hospital with him.” Levi scratched at his beard. It was due for a trim. Hed let it go since the funeral. Hell, now he thought of it, when was the last time hed combed his hair? His gut twisted. “Do you think Strings was right?” he asked, looking at Nick once more. “About me? Do you think Im a coldhearted bastard?”

“I think you deal with things differently than most. Thats all. This isnt about Jax or Samuel though, is it?”

Levi snorted. Nick Blackthorne always did have a way of cutting straight through the bullshit.

“Is it, Levi?” the singer repeated.

Closing his eyes, Levi let out a ragged sigh. “He called me an unfeeling bastard.”

Corbin?

He nodded, raising his dry eyes to Nick. “The morning of the funeral. I was fixing his tie—he always gets it crooked—and he told me I was an unfeeling bastard.”

Grief.

Levis chest squeezed. Leave it to Nick to put the weight of the world in one damn word.



Swallowing, he opened his eyes and looked at his friend over the rim of his scotch glass. “It wasnt the first time hed called me that since weve been together.”





About the author:
Lexxie’s not a deviant. She just has a deviant’s imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get darkly erotic romances with a twist of horror, sci-fi and the paranormal. When she’s not submerged in the worlds she creates, Lexxie’s life revolves around her family, a husband who thinks she’s insane, a indoor cat who likes to stalk shadows, two yabbies hell-bent on destroying their tank and her daughters, who both utterly captured her heart and changed her life forever. 

Having no idea how old she really is, Lexxie decided to go with 27 and has been that age for quite some time now. It's the best of both worlds - old enough to act mature, young enough to be silly. And silly she can be. Just ask her husband who frequently has to endure her bursting into song whenever the mood strikes her, feeling him up in public (one of her favorite pastimes), or rolling around in the sand with their dog - a large mutt of dubious origins who causes almost as much havoc around the neighborhood as Lexxie herself. Or squealing her way down the slide at the local park with her daughter! 

Lexxie lives by two simple rules - measure your success not by how much money you have, but by how often you laugh, and always try everything at least once. As a consequence, she's laughed her way through many an eyebrow raising adventure.


Other books in the series

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