Let me introduce you to my HO :D

The Happy Onion comes out July 29th from Samhain Publishing. I looooooove this cover, thank you Anne Cain!
**giant grin**

Keep reading for the blurb and a short but hot-sweet excerpt…

Liberal vegan meets corporate carnivore. What could possibly go wrong?

Thomas Stone has one sacred rule: Don’t Date The Boss. Ever. So when he finds out his new employer is the man he took to bed his first night in town, he’s less than happy. He doesn’t need any more complications in his life, and the way Phil makes him feel definitely qualifies as a complication. Especially since he can’t seem to keep his hands off the man.

Philip Sorrells is thrilled to discover that the new bartender his manager hired for his restaurant, The Happy Onion, is the aggressive little blond he slept with once and can’t forget. Thom is Phil’s wet dream come true, from his angelic face to his fiery temper. For the first time, Phil hears the siren song of monogamy, and he’s tempted to follow it.

When Thom leaves The Happy Onion for a job managing an upscale nightclub, it looks like a chance for him and Phil to be together without the whole boss/employee thing hanging over them. Instead, Thom’s new position brings out previously unsuspected differences in their world views. Differences with the power to destroy their fragile bond.

So how will this nature-loving tree-hugger and corporate-ladder climber navigate this political minefield in the name of love? Very carefully.

Fuck, this is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Damn it.

Thom scrubbed furiously at the sticky spot on the bar. Or, well, what used to be a sticky spot. After twenty minutes of Thom taking out his frustrations on the bar, all stickiness was long gone and the entire wooden length shone like a mirror.

He didn’t care. The fury, the fear and especially the thrice-damned, annoying desire, had to be worked out somehow, or he’d end up exploding at a customer. If Phil the Boss was anything like Phil the Insatiable Sex Monster, he’d be reasonable enough to let it go with a warning, but Thom didn’t feel like betting his job on that. He still hoped the Rosewood job would come through, but for now he had an income and a temporary home, and he had no intention of risking either just because he was pissed off. Never mind that he had a fucking right to be royally pissed off.

Why? Because the two of you hooked up before either of you knew you were working for him? That’s not his fault any more than it is yours. Maybe he’s just as shaken up by this as you are. You could at least give him a chance.

Thom wrinkled his nose. He hated it when his inner voice guilted away his righteous anger.

He turned to look at the clock behind the bar. Another hour until they opened. Plenty of time to go find Phil and apologize for being a gigantic jackass.

With a put-upon sigh, he hung the rag on a hook behind the bar and stomped across the restaurant toward the kitchen. “I’m going to talk to Phil,” he said to Mike, the busboy, who’d been watching him with the wary expression of a mouse trapped behind the sofa by a hungry tabby. “Everything’s ready to go. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Mike nodded, brown eyes wide and thin shoulders hunched. Thom shook his head as he stalked across the floor. The kid really needed to grow a pair.

In the kitchen, Circe was writing the lunch specials in bright green marker on a couple of dry erase boards. He nodded in response to her smile, but didn’t stop to talk. If he didn’t say what he had to say to Phil right now, he’d lose his nerve for sure.

Phil’s office door was closed. Thom crossed the storeroom and stood in front of it, heart hammering and knees shaking, and tried to summon the courage to knock. He didn’t mind apologizing for being a jerk, and he didn’t think for a second that Phil would try anything unethical. Phil wasn’t the type of person who would use his position as the boss to extort sex from his employees.

No, Thom’s biggest fear was much simpler. If Phil touched him again, or gave him that slow, wicked smile, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from having the man right there in the office. The tip of his finger still burned with the lingering warmth of Phil’s kiss.

God, his lips are so fucking soft.

Grimacing, Thom shook off the haze of desire threatening to overpower him. Get it together, Thom. Just knock on the door, and when he opens it, say you’re sorry, shake his hand and go back to work. You can do this.

He drew a deep breath, blew it out and lifted his hand. Before his knuckles could make contact with the scarred wood, however, the door opened, and Thom found himself face-to-collarbone with Phil.

Thom looked up to meet Phil’s gaze. “Um. Hi.”

“Hey.” Phil gave him a cautious smile. “What’s up, Bu…I mean, Thom?”

“I, uh, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. For how I acted before.” Thom wiped his damp palms on his jeans. “So, yeah. Sorry. I was surprised, is all.”

Phil’s smile widened. “No problem. I was kind of surprised myself.”

The mischievous twinkle in Phil’s hazel eyes had Thom’s head whirling with thoughts completely inappropriate for the workplace. He swallowed, fighting the urge to shove his hand inside those ridiculous black cargo shorts Phil wore and wrap his fingers around the man’s impressive prick. “Okay. Well, bye.”

Thom turned to go. A big hand clamped onto his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Where’re you going?” Phil’s voice rumbled behind him, far too close for comfort.

“Back to work.” Thom winced at the transparent lust in his voice. “Please let go.”

Phil’s hand fell away, but the solid warmth of his body pressed to Thom’s back, freezing him in place. “You know I won’t hold this over you, right?” Phil’s breath stirred the hair at Thom’s temple when he spoke.

“I know.” Thom smiled over his shoulder. “It’s just kind of strange working for someone who’s had his tongue up your ass, you know?”

A low, needy sound emerged from somewhere deep in Phil’s chest. He rested one open palm on Thom’s hip. “I want you,” he whispered, stray wisps of silky hair brushing Thom’s ear. “And I’m not afraid to go after what I want. But I won’t ever pressure you. If you want to end it right here, right now, just be friends, I’m cool with that.” His head dipped, his lips nuzzling Thom’s neck. “You want me, though, you just say the word.”

A polite but firm request to end any possibility of more sex between them was on the tip of Thom’s tongue. Then Phil’s hand slid up and forward, his thumb slipped between the buttons of Thom’s shirt to caress bare skin, and that was all Thom could take.

Whipping around, Thom grabbed Phil’s head in both hands, craned his neck and captured Phil’s lips in a bruising kiss. Phil’s mouth opened wide for Thom’s tongue. One arm crushed Thom’s body to his, the other hand fisting in Thom’s hair.

He didn’t even seem surprised by Thom’s sudden change of heart. Thom thought he ought to find that insulting, but couldn’t be bothered to worry about it right then.

“Inside,” Thom growled when the kiss finally broke. “Now.”

Written by Ally Blue

Ally is a rich and famous author of hot gay manlove. She travels the world in her private jet, being waited on hand and foot by her team of pretty young men who bring her umbrella drinks and make out for her pleasure . . . Okay, so that's her dream life. Her novels of Manlove & Angst are mostly written in her living room, in between working at the Evil Day Job and doing Mom Stuff. Oh, the glamorous life of an author!
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