#TeaserTuesday: The Lonely Date by K.C. Carmine

So excited to be able to share just a little bit of The Lonely Date which releases on Friday, October 7th!

Blurb:

💚⚽️👓The Lonely Date - MM Contemporary Romance Novella

Brian has always dreamt of a professional football career. Years of dedication and hard work have brought that goal within arm’s reach, but now he’s facing a new battle—with his sexuality he can no longer repress. Coming out—or even experimenting—would endanger his prospective career. After a devastating accident, Brian finds himself being led through doors he was reluctant to open before.

E has always struggled with intimacy. As a gay geek on the spectrum, his love life has consisted of a series of haphazard and unrewarding anonymous encounters. After a hopeless crush on a fellow student, E faces a tough decision: step out of his comfort zone and reach for what he wants, or face a life alone.

A standalone prequel to KC Carmine’s novel “The Blindfold Date,” “The Lonely Date” meets Brian and Ernesto at a pivotal moment 12 years earlier as students at the same university.

Teaser:

With a grunt of frustration, Brian linked his hands behind his head and looked at the cracks in the white ceiling. Needing to focus on something else, he thought of the game today, of how well they’d played and how much he hoped his trials next week would propel his life further into football. He worked great with his team, but if he had a chance to play with professionals, he knew he’d be able to learn so much more. He recalled the rush of a successful game as he’d jogged off the field today, his legs tired, his body elated with the workout. 

Then he remembered a deep brown gaze locking on him as he was leaving the field. Some guy sitting on the hood of a car. Brian had seen him before, scribbling notes, probably writing a paper right after gym time. 

Today had been different. 

Brian had felt those intense eyes on him like a lover’s caress. It was as if the guy could sense the tiny seed of doubt Brian had about his sexuality. In a different world, at a different time, Brian could hold that gaze, could challenge it, and maybe even find out something about himself in the process. 

But he wasn’t in a place in his life to explore that side of him. A side he wasn’t even sure he had. What would his teammates think if he’d told them he was attracted to men? Not as a casual remark, but on a serious note. Would they treat him differently? Avoid him in the locker room? Make jokes? Then he thought of the scouts, afraid of a potential scandal if he came out at an early stage of his career. He couldn’t do that to himself, especially not knowing if he even was anything other than straight. 

Beatrice, his older sister and the person he’d always looked up to, had always told him to be himself, to embrace who he truly was, but some things had to wait or maybe stay locked away forever. Beatrice had come out as a teen, waving rainbow flags, piercing her nose and surrounding herself with friends who understood her. Their parents were supportive of her, so Brian wouldn’t have to worry about their reaction. But he didn’t have the courage his sister had, or even the guts to consider if he needed it. 

He’d only ever been with girls. Sure, he’d ogled a well-built man here and there, but he was working out and into sports, there was nothing unusual about looking at other blokes’ honed bodies. 

Right?

He wasn’t sure. It had been his first term at uni when he’d seen two guys kissing at a party for the first time. He’d seen gay couples before, amongst Beatrice’s friends and other people around him, but he’d never seen such a passionate kiss up close. It had turned him the fuck on. He’d blamed it on being drunk and horny, but that image had stayed with him for years, buried somewhere at the back of his mind. He’d never thought he might want the same. With a man.

Because he didn’t.

So what if he fancied a bit of experimental arse-play? It meant nothing. 

His gaze followed the crack in the ceiling all the way to the door leading to the flat he shared with two other guys. They weren’t home now. Probably partying and getting laid. Unlike him. Alice wouldn’t come to him tonight. Wouldn’t suck him off, wouldn’t play with his balls, wouldn’t reach behind them…

He glanced at the lube, tissues, and condoms he’d prepared on his bedside table, then back to his cock.

Yup, still hard. 

Sliding his boxers down with one hand, he reached for the lube with the other. The squelching sound the bottle made as it unloaded onto his hand was loud enough for him to be glad that he was home alone. Anyone would have known what he was about to do.

He palmed his cock and released a groan, the faux-strawberry scent of the lubricant invading his nose, reminding him that it was Alice who’d brought it one night for anal play. The last song of the album finished and silence fell, making the slick sound lewd in the dead of night as he thrust into his fist, spreading his bent legs for a better angle.

Not enough.

His other hand reached for his balls and he rolled them in his palm before squeezing until a groan tore out of his throat. His fingers inched further until he grazed his puckered hole. He exhaled a breath, stilling the hand on his cock. 

‘Relax. It’s fine,’ he assured himself. ‘You do this every day when you take a shower.’

But this was different. His fingers weren’t quick and efficient, but probing and curious. Closing his eyes, he focused on the sensation of his pucker constricting as he circled it with the pad of a finger.

His heart pounded. 

His face heated.

A trickle of lube made its way to his new point of curiosity, and he pressed with his index finger. His quick, shallow breaths punched the air as he was trying to relax his anal muscles. Finally, the tip slipped in and his lips formed a shocked ‘O.’

“Oh, fuck…” he groaned on a long exhale. It was a small stretch, yet felt huge in girth and sensation alike. As if some new nerve endings had woken up and sent signals to his brain asking for more. 

He pushed further. 

A burning sensation fired in his anus and he pulled his finger out.

“Stupid idea,” he mumbled, clenching at the mild pain.

Sitting up, he reached for the bedside table. Pulling several tissues out, he wiped his hands and tossed them into the basket by his tiny desk. Among his failed sketches, the wad of tissues didn’t look all that suspicious. With a sharp tug, he pulled his boxers up. 

He was being ridiculous. 

He hadn’t known what to expect. The burn was not it. It was probably why Alice insisted on him nearly bathing her arse in the stuff before his cock got anywhere near it. 

Fuck, he didn’t know what he was doing. 

His eyes landed on the laptop on the desk. Hmm.

Not wanting to get lube on the chair, he grabbed the laptop and placed it on the foot of the bed. Lifting the lid, he woke it up, waited several moments, then opened the browser. Just as he was about to type his search, he remembered something one of his mates told him about being careful with what he looked up online. Hovering over the VPN button, he clicked it to make his search non-traceable before he typed in gay porn. 

Sites started to load, along with pictures and videos. He scrolled tentatively, leaning over, his face inches from the screen.

Men dressed in leather. Fetish. Spanking.

Scroll. 

A video caption of a guy in skimpy underwear with straps under his arsecheeks and fabric that covered only his junk. His football trainers were firmly planted on the locker room floor but his hands were splayed on a bench, showing his leanly-muscled body, similar to Brian’s, that shone with sweat. He could be one of his mates.

Brian clicked on the video. 

The guy was rocking his hips, arse up, his stance widening. A big, muscled man entered the frame, a gym bottle in his hand. He poured a solid amount of its contents over the bent-over guy’s hole and Brian realised the bottle was filled with lube. The big man drenched his entire palm in the gooey gel as well, then unceremoniously slid three fingers into the other man, then four. 

“Whoa…” Brian breathed, his eyes going wide as he clenched his arse-cheeks in sympathy. 

“Open for my fist, my little slut.”

Brian closed the laptop with a slap.

Nope. 

Nuh-uh.

He nudged the device away with his foot, but the image was too clear in his mind to disappear so quickly. Sex with people was great. Experimenting, potentially even with guys, sounded exciting. 

Porn was weird. 

He was aware that, like everything on the telly and online, it had to be exaggerated to sell. But Brian wanted the real deal. He’d rather try new things with people than do online research. No arse play for him. No way. Not that kind. Ouch.

He sprang off the bed and stomped barefoot to the shared bathroom in the corridor. He locked the door behind himself with a loud click. The sticky lino was unpleasant under his feet so he kicked off his boxers, hopped into the tub, and dragged the shower curtain closed with an angry tug. Cold water should douse his crazy ideas. Horny and frustrated were not a good combination. 

Doesn't that excerpt just make you want to pre-order The Lonely Date in ebook or paperback?  It will also release on KU!