At night, he paints. In a world where the supernaturals can bring down lightning and manifest wealth, Sammy can paint. What happens when a witch's “prophetic” paintings always come true and his latest painting is of the human he has a crush on? The answer? Magic!
Check out the brand new cover for the 2nd Edition of BRUSH WITH CATASTROPHE!!
Check out the brand new cover for the 2nd Edition of BRUSH WITH CATASTROPHE!!
Brush With Catastrophe
(The Aloysius Tales Series, #2)
By Tara Lain
Blurb:
Sammy Raphael is a crappy witch, and on top of that, he can't seem to get a boyfriend. Where other supernaturals can bring down lightning and manifest wealth, Sammy can paint. Granted, the “prophetic” paintings he creates at night always come true, but they never predict anything important. Sammy feels like a total loser with a worthless ability.
One night he paints a gorgeous guy who turns out to be his secret crush, the human Ryder, but Ryder’s changed so much he's almost unrecognizably beautiful. Then Sammy paints an angel who turns out to be a witch. But is that witch also a devil—a devil who can bring down Sammy’s whole community and everyone he loves? And why the hell does Ryder keep changing? Aloysius, the black cat familiar, always backs a winner. So why is he backing Sammy?
Available for pre-order at
Also available in paperback
Release Date:
April 14th 2017
Excerpts
“Hey, have you seen any new guys
around? Really handsome. Tall with long hair.”
Chen started to laugh. “You have
been out of it, haven’t you?”
Sammy stared at his friend. “What
do you mean?”
“Speak of the devil.” Chen nodded
down the sidewalk.
Sammy turned. Coming toward him,
smiling exactly like the painting, was a guy. Mr. Gorgeous. In the painting
he’d been tall and lean, but in motion his walk was like music in human form.
His baggy jeans tightened over hard thighs as he moved, and they outlined a
package that looked better than a birthday present to Sammy. How-dy.
The guy waved. “Hey, Sam. Hi,
Chen.”
What?
The painting guy got closer, and
the wind caught the nearly shoulder-length hair and tossed it back from his
perfect face. Ears! Pointed ears. Only one guy had ’em. “Alvish?” It couldn’t
be. But those ears didn’t lie.
Alvish, the BFF who only two
months before had been inches shorter than Sammy, now looked down on him by an
inch or more. “Hi, guys. How was summer?”
Sammy knew his mouth was hanging
open. “Summer, hells! What happened to you?”
Alvish shrugged, flexing his
muscular shoulders. “I kind of had a growth spurt.”
That was an understatement. “I
didn’t recognize you. I mean, aren’t you twenty? Who grows that much at twenty?
You only came up to my chin last semester. And”—Sammy waved at the masterpiece
in front of him—“and weren’t your eyes brown?”
Alvish smiled. “I know. Weird,
huh?”
No damned fair. Sammy had fought
his attraction to his friend every day of their acquaintance, but Alvish used
to be a skinny, short guy with big, pointed ears. Hence the nickname. Now Sammy
wanted to start at Alvish’s toes and lick his way to the tops of those ears in
one huge orgy of oral gratification. This new Alvish was so hot Sammy held his
art case in front of his crotch, trying not to spill the beans… or whatever
else was inclined to spill. And this transformation was also damned strange.
Sammy started to walk toward
class again. He needed to get his brush in his hand and forget everything for
an hour. Alvish and Chen fell in beside him. Chen was in his class. The guy
loved to paint, even if his life was planned around numbers. Alvish studied
history and was Dr. Barth’s fair-haired boy. But the history building was on
the way to the art department so he hung with them.
Chen looked past Sammy toward
Alvish. “So, Alvish, what did it feel like growing so fast? Even your hair
grew, man.”
“It was interesting. Hey, could I
ask you guys a favor? I guess I never told you. I don’t much like the name
Alvin. And since I kind of grew into my ears, I thought I might change to my
middle name. Would that be okay?”
Chen shrugged. “Sure. It’ll be
tough to get used to, but I can try. What’s the name?”
“Ryder.”
Sammy stopped. Bloody fucking hells. Pictures of the
new, improved Alvish riding his ass with what was likely his new and improved
cock almost sent Sammy into an orgasm.
Alvish call-me-Ryder looked at
him. “You all right?”
Sammy started to walk again.
“Sure. I thought of something I need to do later.” That would be to get away
from this dream walking, can’t-ever-have-him friend before he blew in his
jeans.
Ryder
cocked his head. “You’re so talented.”
Gods,
Sammy’s heart had to slow down, or he’d pass out. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
Ryder
looked up with a soft expression. “You mean coming from a dumb historian who
doesn’t know a palette knife from a fork?”
“No,
I mean coming from you. My friend.”
“Don’t
go out with Lucien, Sammy.”
What the fuck? “Why? Come on, Ryder. Sure, I don’t have a
background check on him, but I probably know as much about him as I do you.”
Ryder
looked at his feet. “Point taken.” The green eyes flashed up. “But I think he’s
cheating on you.”
“What?”
Ryder
walked over to the kitchen counter, picked up a glass, filled it from the
faucet, and drank.
Sammy
wanted to beat him over the head. “Come on. Tell me what you mean. Stop stalling.”
“I
can’t prove it, but I’ve talked to a couple of people who seem to have a
relationship with him and seem to think they are somehow special to him.”
Sammy
couldn’t catch his breath. “Well, we’re not exclusive or anything. I don’t have
any claims on him.”
Ryder
scratched Al, who was purring so loudly that Sammy could hear it clearly. “Is
that true? Or has he implied that you’re his boyfriend?”
“Not
exactly.”
“I
think you deserve better, Sams. I think you can do better.”
Well, shit! Sammy threw up his hands. “That’s real easy to say
when you have an unlimited supply of tits to drool over.” Sammy crossed his
arms. Maybe they’d protect his heart. “I haven’t had a real boyfriend in over a
year, and even that one wasn’t serious. I’m lonely, damn it. I want to be with
someone, and Lucien is smart and funny and charming, and he seems to like me a
lot.” He spread his arms wide. “Is that so unbelievable? That a gorgeous guy
like that could actually go for a skinny scarecrow like me?” He could feel his
ears getting hot, and hurt stored over years poured out of him. “Maybe that’s
why you think he’s cheating. You can’t believe he could want me!”
Ryder
stared at him, his eyes shiny. “That’s not true. I’d never feel that way. I
think anyone with a brain would want you.”
“Then
there must be a lot of dumb people!” Sammy’s breath came hard. Shit, he was
attacking his best friend. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I know you don’t think
that.” He ran a hand through his hair. He probably really looked like that
scarecrow now. “Look, he’s going to be here soon. I promise I’ll ask him. I
will. Okay?”
Ryder
frowned. “I’m worried about you.”
“I
know. I don’t understand why, but I know you are. I’ll talk to him.”
“Okay.”
“You
better go unless you want to ask him yourself.”
“No,
I’ll go.” Ryder walked to the door and turned. He extricated Al from his neck
and handed him to Sammy. “I care what happens to you. I care…. I wish…. Hell,
be careful.” He opened the door and walked out, then closed the door behind
him.
Sammy
collapsed onto the couch, still holding Al against his chest, and threw his
head back. “Why the fuck does this have to be so hard? Why can’t I just have a
boyfriend?”
The Aloysius Tales Series
Book #1
Spell Cat
Available for purchase at
Also available in paperback
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 32. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul-mate husband and her soul-mate dog near the sea in California where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!
You can find Tara at Lain
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