Hi guys, we have B.G. Thomas visiting us today with his upcoming re-release (which has been expanded) Do You Trust Me?, we have a fabulous guest post from B.G. and a great excerpt, so check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~

Do You Trust Me?

B.G. Thomas

The path to happiness starts with acceptance, and sometimes the chance for a bright, loving future means letting go of the past.

All his life, Neil Baxter has buried a large part of himself—the part that’s attracted to other men. He married a woman and denied that side of him existed. And he plans to keep right on pretending to be straight after his beloved wife has passed away.

To help him deal with his grief, Neil’s sister-in-law convinces him to vacation at a dude ranch. There, Neil meets Cole Thompson, a young, gorgeous, unabashedly gay wrangler—who is unabashedly attracted to Neil. And try as he might, Neil cannot deny he feels the same way. But desire soon becomes something more profound as the two men get to know each other. Cole is much more than a sexy cowboy: he’s kind, spiritual, and intelligent. In fact, he’s perfect for Neil… except he’s a man, and Neil isn’t ready to let go of a lifetime of denial. If he cannot find the courage to be true to himself, he might let something wonderful slip through his fingers.

First Edition published as Trust Me by Amber Quill Press, 2011.

B.G. Thomas!

Cowboys!  Cowboys!  Cowboys!

You know, for the most part, I’ve never been a huge fan of Westerns. Well, except for “True Grit” of course. Both versions. And “The Return of Rooster Cogburn.” Now wait. I loved “Two Mules for Sister Sara,” when I saw it as a kid at the drive in with my parents…. Oh! There was another. I think it starred Clint Eastwood. I remember a snowy mountain. And a widow and her boy living in a cabin. And they take him in and they sing “Oh Tannenbaum.” I can’t remember what it was called but I loved that movie. And that television series called “The Magnificent Seven.” Lots of fun. And “Lonesome Dove” of course and….  Hmmmm…. Maybe I do like Westerns a little bit.

But what I really like is cowboys. Gosh. Those hats. Those tight tight jeans. The boots (impossible to wear, by the way, unless you want your toes to grow together into a point). I’d go to C&W bars to stare at them if I liked Country and Western music….

I like cowboys enough that there was a time I wanted to go to a Dude Ranch when I was growing up. It never happened. In fact I never even rode a horse until I was around twenty-two or so. It only happened once or twice. That is until about five years ago when my wonderful friends Julie and Mike let me come out to their place and really learn to ride a horse. A gorgeous one by the name of Mystic. She was magnificent. That experience made it clear. I was writing a Dude Ranch story for an open call for submissions for cowboy stories. How could I not have fun doing that?

I loved writing that story. It was called “Trust Me.” Not the name that I wanted to give it, but the title was already taken. The only problem with that story—and I put a lot of love and passion in it—was that the publisher was adamant that the story be no more than forty thousand words. And when I got to that point, I still had a lot of story still to tell. My heroes had barely fallen in love.

So I did one of those rush endings. Where the heroes fall in love and move in together in one week. I knew those relationships never lasted. I’ve seen it a dozen times with my friends. But this was romance and people love instalove. It would be okay. And it was. People loved the story.

But there was always that part of me that wished that book had been much closer to sixty thousand words….

Then something happened. It was sad. But it opened a door. The publisher went out of business and the rights to the story reverted back to me. By then I was established as a pretty much exclusive Dreamspinner Press writer. And I didn’t want the book be out of print. Not only did I like the story, but it is a part of my Universe and characters from other stories find their way into that tale. So I presented to Dreamspinner and asked if they were interested.

Happily they were. As long as I added about twenty thousand words!

And so it did it! I turned my beloved “Trust Me” into the book I always wanted it to be. What a joy! It was love! And I even got to claim the title I always wanted it to have. And here is an excerpt from “Do You Trust Me?”

Excerpt

Some people don’t look like their pictures. The photographs do something to them. Make them look older or heavier or paler or puffier. Catches them with one eye half-closed or heavy-lidded, so they looked drunk or drugged out. Or with a strange sneer. Or maybe while they’re moving so everything is a blur.

I think I’m the most unphotogenic person in the world. Em and I had to spend hours going through wedding pictures before I found one I didn’t mind hanging on our wall.

None of this was true about Cole.

He looked just like his pictures—and more. If his photos had been good, in person he looked even taller, more muscular, and better-looking. He could’ve been a model or a movie star instead of a wrangler on a dusty ranch. His rolled-up sleeves revealed muscular arms bulging from the weight of the food he was holding. And those arms, they were so smooth, whereas mine were hairier. Would his chest be smooth too? I wondered.

Shit! Why did I care about that?

His smile was even more dazzling (and more disarming). And then there were his eyes.

Oh, those eyes! Intense. They were a deep, dark chocolate brown, and so…. I struggled to find the right word. Exotic. Once again, I wondered if he had some mixed Asian ancestry because of their almost almond shape. His hair, dark brown as well, was cut fairly short, and it suited him perfectly. Made him look even more masculine.

Which is what he was—and more.

I found I wasn’t breathing and had to tell myself to inhale.

Cole set the tray down, and when he did, he was standing almost directly over me. I could smell him. He smelled like country, sunshine, and clean, honest man. I was finally breathing, and what I was breathing was the scent of him (even as I was asking myself what the hell I was doing).

“I hope you’re all hungry.” His voice was deep and delightful.

It was only when my brain connected that I smelled the food: open-faced beef sandwiches with mashed potatoes, all smothered in brown gravy, along with baby carrots. Finally something I could focus my attention on that was not the young man standing over me.

Cole passed out the plates and asked us what we wanted to drink. My throat was too dry to answer, and Amy, knowing my preference for iced tea, ordered for me with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow. It was like she could see what was happening to me. I looked away from her, but that only forced my attention on Cole’s retreating form, and, damn, his pants were tight.

I tore my eyes away from the sight and stared at my plate. Made myself dig in. One bite and it didn’t take much to keep my attention there, at least until Cole returned and took the only empty seat at the table—the one next to me.

“You must be Crystal’s daddy, right?” he said, unleashing his smile on me.

To my horror, I realized I was getting hard. Sweat began to trickle down my ribs, and once again I had to remind myself to breathe. I tried to answer, couldn’t, and nodded instead.

He held out his hand, and I could only stare at it. It was big, with long, square-tipped fingers.

Amy elbowed me, and I jerked and took his hand. For a moment it felt like it was a thousand degrees. I almost flinched.

But no.

It wasn’t hot.

It was no warmer than mine.

But it was so… alive. I felt like I’d never shaken hands before.

“I can see it,” Cole said. “She looks like you.”

“She does?” I said, voice cracking like a teenage boy’s. It was the second time someone had said that within minutes. I cleared my throat and repeated, “She does?”

“Your eyes, for one thing,” Cole said, leaving his hand in mine. “She’s got your eyes.”

Was it normal for a man to hold another man’s hand this long? Was it long or was I being weird? Time suddenly seemed messed up.

“B-but her eyes are blue,” I managed. And my eyes were brown. Ordinary brown. Nothing like Cole’s.

I went to pull my hand away, and he held firm for just an instant longer. As he finally let go, he gave me a wink.

My heart skipped a beat. No. Several.

Then it hit me. Was he flirting? Was this gay boy flirting with me? In front of everyone?

Cole turned away and began to chat with the others at the table, catching up, catching them up. So Crystal was going away to college, huh? And Robin, too? Had they gone to prom? Yes, but not with a boyfriend. No, he was not seeing anyone. Not in quite a while.

I sat there not saying a word. Amy shot me a look, and I shrugged. I took a long drink of my tea and felt better.

It had all been my imagination. All of it. And my reaction to him? It was just because it had been a long time since I had interacted with a gay man. I’d learned to dodge them. I could spot them from miles away, and I stayed clear.

I took a deep breath and a big bite of my food. Delicious. I had to use a fork. There was no picking this sandwich up.

Better.

Eating let me change my focus.

I took another drink.

Better.

Cole was not flirting.

Of course not….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Confused? But hopefully at least a little bit intrigued or maybe, just maybe, turned on? Maybe this will help explain….  Here’s the blurb for, “Do You Trust Me?”

The path to happiness starts with acceptance, and sometimes the chance for a bright, loving future means letting go of the past.

All his life, Neil Baxter has buried a large part of himself—the part that’s attracted to other men. He married a woman and denied that side of him existed. And he plans to keep right on pretending to be straight after his beloved wife has passed away.

To help him deal with his grief, Neil’s sister-in-law convinces him to vacation at a dude ranch. There, Neil meets Cole Thompson, a young, gorgeous, unabashedly gay wrangler—who is unabashedly attracted to Neil. And try as he might, Neil cannot deny he feels the same way. But desire soon becomes something more profound as the two men get to know each other. Cole is much more than a sexy cowboy: he’s kind, spiritual, and intelligent. In fact, he’s perfect for Neil… except he’s a man, and Neil isn’t ready to let go of a lifetime of denial. If he cannot find the courage to be true to himself, he might let something wonderful slip through his fingers.

I hope that whet your appetite to read more! It’s being released February 3rd, and I couldn’t be happier. I hope you’ll be happy too!

Namaste everyone. Hopefully I will see you at Black Bear Guest Ranch!

BG “Ben” Thomas

About B.G.

B.G. Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of more than a decade and their fabulous dogs Sarah Jane and Oliver. He is blessed to have a lovely daughter as well as many extraordinary friends. He has a great passion for life.

B.G. loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction, and even horror—as far as he is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to literature conventions his entire adult life where he’s been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He has made up stories since he was a child; it is where he finds his joy.

In the nineties, he wrote for gay adult magazines but stopped because the editors wanted all sex without plot. “The sex is never as important as the characters,” he says. “Who cares what they are doing if we don’t care about them?” Excited about the growing male/male romance market, he began writing again. He submitted a novella and was thrilled when it was accepted in four days. Since then the romantic tales have poured out of him. “It’s like I’m somehow making up for a lifetime’s worth of story-telling!”

“Leap, and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message. “It is never too late,” he testifies. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”

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