X-Factor by Sean Michael Guest Post & Excerpt!

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Hi guys, we have Sean Michael stopping by today with his upcoming re-release X-Factor, we have a short guest post from Sean, and a great excerpt so peeps, check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~

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X-Factor

by

Sean Michael

Game designer Henry Delloit loves his life, his mountain community, his isolated dream home, and the snow. He also loves that the X-treme Games blow into the area for a month every year, bringing with them hundreds of athletes.

Ecco Rasmussen loves boarding. He knows he’ll never make it to the big time, but as long as he can get on his board and go, he doesn’t care. If only his manager, Blake Dobbs, would cut Ecco a break. The man’s possessive and mean, and believes he owns Ecco.

When Henry and Ecco meet at the Branchberry Games, it’s lust at first sight. An injury on Ecco’s qualifying run offers an opportunity to spend quality time together at Henry’s home, away from the crowds and out from under Blake’s thumb.

At this rate, lust might turn into love, but not if they can’t keep their romance hidden from Blake.

Release date: 27th April 2016
Pre-order: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon

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Putting the X in Extreme

I love watching the snowboarders doing their thing at the Olympics and the various extreme sporting events. These guys are pushing the limits of what a human being can do on snow with nothing more than an incline and a board. It’s beautiful and exciting to watch. And every year it seems like the tricks get that much bigger, more dangerous, more exciting and thrilling.

I wanted to bring a bit of this extreme winter world to X-Factor. So one of the main characters is a boarder. A guy who just loves to go, who loves snow and boarding and never really cared about all the other details that fuel the sport – sponsorships, winnings, etc. Which left him open to be taken advantage of by his manager, which in turn, harshes the joy he takes from boarding.

Lucky for Echo, he meets up with Henry who himself loves winter and watching the various extreme games.

Sean Michael

Smut fixes everything

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Excerpt

Henry sipped from his mug, the heat of the rum going through him. He was lucky enough to be within driving range of several of the local X-treme Games, and the next month or so would be one big party as the athletes moved from venue to venue.

A joyful noise drew his attention to down below the balcony, where a group of boarders were greeting each other, the laughter and stunts making him grin.

“Yo! Man! How’d your run go this morning?”

A stocky little blond guy grinned, then did a sudden handstand. “I rocked it!”

Henry grinned. Christ, that was sexy—all that energy and exuberance.

The loose shirt dropped down, exposing a ripped belly covered in black ink.

Henry swallowed his gasp, unable to tear his eyes from the sight. The guy was just his type, not to mention fit, gorgeous, and clearly having a good time.

The kid did a couple of push-ups. Look at that. Henry was glad he was wearing snow pants now, and he hid his drooling behind his hot toddy. Something about this kid called to him more than the others, and he felt his belly clench.

The group hooted, cheered. Then the kid popped up, red-faced and smiling. Henry couldn’t help himself; he put down the hot toddy and clapped as well. He got a grin, a deep curtsey, a wave. He waved back and raised his mug to the kid. If he hadn’t had to shout, he might have offered to buy one for the boarder.

“Show-off prick.”

He barely heard the words, but they came from somewhere. Somewhere close.

Frowning, Henry looked around for the speaker. There’d been more than a hint of menace in the voice. Nothing looked out of place, though, and there were so many people… anyone could have spoken. People milled out in the square and on the balcony, mostly groups of athletes and some hotel staff, identifiable by their blue tuques with white snowflakes on them. Henry shook it off, turning his attention back to the young man and his friends.

The kid was now perched on the little retaining wall, arms wrapped around himself, hands rubbing. Henry stood and wandered over casually. He’d offer the kid a drink, shoot the breeze, talk about the games.

He got a grin as he headed over.

“Hey, man.”

“Hey.” He recognized the kid as he got closer. The guy went by Ecco and was an amazing boarder. He’d been putting in some great finishes lately in the boardercross events.

Fine and blond, with the biggest, prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen—Ecco looked delicious.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Henry asked, lifting his mug.

He got a long, curious look, then a quick smile. “Sure. I’d like that. It’s bitter.”

That was an understatement, but a warm drink and good company could go a long way to making you forget about the weather.

“What’s your poison?”

“Hot Peppermint Patty?”

“Coming right up.” He went over to the bar window, giving the girl whose name he still couldn’t remember a smile and ordering Ecco’s drink along with a top up of his toddy. He also picked up a couple of hot sweet rolls. In his experience, anyone who spent the day outside boarding was always hungry.

Ecco sat at a table, sprawled out, showing off short, muscled, strong legs. Henry schooled himself—no drooling, no staring.

He set everything down and sat in the chair next to Ecco’s. He held out his hand. “Henry.”

“Ecco. Pleased.” He knew from the stats that Ecco was in his late twenties, knew the guy was on the old end of competition, but there was youth in the man’s face, except for right around the eyes.

“It’s great to meet you. I assume you’re in for the games as a participant again this year?” Henry did love to watch boardercross. Not as flashy as the half-pipe, it still took a lot of skill, not to mention the boarders always looked like they were having a blast.

“I’m trying to make the qualifying runs, yeah.”

“Oh, unless you’ve been sitting back drinking beer and watching the chicks all summer, I’m sure you won’t have any problems making them.”

Ecco might be an old man by X-treme Games standards, though not the oldest by any means, and he’d still been near the top last year. At least at the games Henry’d been to.

“No to both. Spent my summer in Utah, rafting.”

“Sounds exciting.” Henry had spent the summer writing software and lying in the pool. “Were you running tours?”

“Yeah. I needed a….” Ecco stopped, smiled. “It was fun.”

“I’ve been rafting a time or two. Had my heart in my throat for most of both runs.” He’d gone back that second time, though, and wouldn’t say no out of hand to trying it again. Especially if he had a sexy number like Ecco as a guide. Henry hoped he hadn’t said that last part out loud.

“I love that part, the wild bit.”

“I never would have guessed.” He couldn’t help the tease. There was no way someone who flew down the mountain on a snowboard like Ecco did could be anything but a wild child, a seeker of thrills, a lover of speed and snow.

“I know. I’m such a fucking suit, eh?”

He tried picturing Ecco in a suit and wound up laughing. Ecco grinned at him, drank deep from his glass.

“You heading out for some practice runs this afternoon?” He knew the qualifying runs weren’t for a couple of days, but the hills would still be pretty busy, even after it got dark.

“Maybe. We’ll have to see.”

“What’re you doing for dinner?” It wasn’t like Henry to be so bold, but something about Ecco called to him. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because the boarder hadn’t just blown him off as a staid old local.

Those beautiful blue eyes met his, straight on. “I hadn’t made plans yet, man. You?”

“No, not yet. They’ve got a big-time chef over at the Snowy Peak tonight.” He could get them in tonight; he knew Brian, the maître d’. The rest of the week there was no way, they’d be too busy with advance reservations, but Henry’d bet he could wrangle them a table tonight.

“Yeah? Snowy Peak, huh? Cool.”

“We could meet there around seven?” Any later than that and he’d be testing his friendship with Brian; they’d be packed to the rafters by nine. Of course, earlier gave them more time after dinner if they wanted to go for drinks or something.

“Yeah? How about six? They don’t mind if you’re not so dressy then.”

“It’s a date.” Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that, not out loud at least. “I mean, I’ll see you then.” Smooth. Henry managed not to roll his eyes at himself, though it was a close thing. God, he was a dork, and he really didn’t want this sweet boarder to know just how big of a one he was.

“You leaving now?”

The chicken in him wanted to say yes, but he smiled instead and shook his head. He’d be more than happy to spend more time with Ecco. “Wasn’t planning to go just yet.”

“Cool. So, what do you do, man?” That smile fascinated him more than a little bit.

“Software engineer.” Henry always thought the engineer part made it sound more important than it was, but “software designer” made him sound like he hung curtains or something.

“What kind of software?”

“Mostly games, though I’ve done patches for some of the local restaurants.” Cash register software was supposed to be customizable; that didn’t mean it actually was. Still, the games were where he made his money. Sometimes pretty damn good money too. Enough to let him live how he liked, anyway.

“Dude…. You do games? That rocks.” Ecco looked impressed. “I pitched a game before. It didn’t fly.”

He tried not to blush. He wasn’t used to folks looking at him like that. “A lot of them don’t. You have to hit all the right notes, and even then….” He shrugged. He’d worked on plenty of games that had gone down the toilet. Still, he’d had more hits than misses, so it all worked out in the end.

“Yeah, I know about that, I guess.” Ecco nodded, offered him a grin.

“I suppose you do at that. Maybe there’s more in common between what we do than I thought.” Only Henry didn’t risk life and limb sitting in front of his computer all day. His biggest risk was getting a paunch from lack of exercise.

And God, the kid had a great smile. It lit those eyes right up.

“So, are you from here, dude? Or are you touristing?”

“I live about an hour and a half from here. Out in the middle of nowhere.” Nothing but him and the mountains. His house was pretty amazing, actually. One of the best things his work had bought him.

“Yeah? That’s rocking.” Ecco nodded, took another drink.

“Yeah, you should drop by after a snowfall. The mountains are pristine.” He loved being the first one across new snow with either his cross-country skis or his snowshoes. Only newbies attempted new snow on foot.

“Yeah, there’s nothing better than virgin snow.”

“Virgin anything’s usually pretty good.” He gave Ecco a wink.

“Oh, man. I don’t know about that. Sex is better with practice.” Ecco leaned back, flirting with him. “That first time is awkward as hell.”

He flirted back, tilting his head and offering Ecco a smile. “I don’t know—I kind of like the getting to know what my lover likes.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the first-first time. That’s different.”

“Oh, we’re splitting hairs now, are we?” Man, he hadn’t flirted like this in a million years. It felt great, and Ecco was…. Ecco was awesome.

Ecco chuckled. “Oooh. Kinky!”

Henry laughed. He could feel the heat make it to his cheeks this time, but he didn’t care. Ecco was sexy and charming the pants off him.

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About Sean

Sean Michael author picOften referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and pursuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago.”

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He’ll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Where to find the author:

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