New Release: The Boy Next Door by Kate McMurray

Hi, I'm Kate, I'm new to this here blog thingie (though not new to Loose Id). My new novel The Boy Next Door is available today! The book is about a man who reluctantly moves back to his hometown and has to confront a few demons; one of them is his new next-door neighbor who happens to have been his childhood best friend. But of course, nothing is ever easy, and Lowell's new neighbor has some demons of his own to deal with before they can have their happily ever after.

This book was a long time in the making, but I'm really excited about it and I hope you enjoy! Here's the blurb and a lil' excerpt.

BLURB:

When Lowell moves back to his hometown to take care of his ailing mother, the last person he expects to see living in the house next door is his childhood friend Jase, grown up now and more attractive than ever. Jase had starred in many of Lowell’s teenage fantasies, but Lowell is convinced Jase is straight. And yet, as they rekindle their friendship, it begins to look like Jase might not be so straight after all.

Jase has problems of his own: his troubled ex-wife has allowed him full custody of their daughter on one condition: he never exposes her to his affairs with other men. The arrangement works just fine until he starts falling for Lowell and a whole new world of possibilities opens up for him. But how can he have a relationship with a man and still keep his daughter?

EXCERPT:

Jase reflected on the week that had come and gone, feeling like it had been a week just like every other, only maybe it wasn’t, because something felt different. He’d gone to work, yes, and he’d hated himself every moment he sat at his desk, and there were bad meetings and too much to do. Layla had skinned her knee at camp, and then he’d burned dinner on Wednesday but had made Layla’s day by giving up and ordering pizza. He’d been kind of surprised when Karen followed through on her promise to take Layla to the city, expecting her to flake like she did so often these days. They were spending the night at Karen’s parents, so now he was by himself in his house, feeling drained and lonely.

He looked out the window and saw his neighbor’s battered Volkswagen sitting in the driveway. Without giving it much thought, he grabbed his wallet and keys and walked next door.

Lowell answered the door looking disheveled but kind of delicious. He had on a faded T-shirt and running shorts, and his hair was sticking out in several directions. He was sweaty, like he’d been working out, but something about the way Lowell smelled undid Jase. Lowell was sweaty, yes, but the smell was sweet and masculine. Jase wondered what it would be like to be closer to that body, to rub against the stubble on his chin, to take a deeper breath. He wanted to push Lowell against a wall and do unspeakable things to him. He took a step back, already hard, hoping Lowell’s gaze would stay above his waist. He forced himself to smile. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi.” Lowell looked mildly embarrassed. “Sorry I smell like a locker room. I just got back from a run.”

“It’s okay.” Saying he liked how Lowell smelled would probably have taken it too far. “I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight.”

“Not as such. Why? Did you have something in mind?”

“I thought we could go out, get a drink or something. Karen took Layla for the weekend, so I’m just rattling around in my house.”

“Okay, sure. Um. Give me ten minutes?”

Lowell’s house had the same basic layout as Jase’s, with the living room to the left of the front door, and a staircase to the right. Lowell indicated the couch in the living room. “Have a seat. Sorry for my house’s unfurnished state. Feel free to watch TV or something.” Then he ran upstairs.

Jase sat on the couch and heard water running through the pipes, indicating Lowell was in the shower. He looked around the room. It was tasteful. Sparse, yes, but all of Lowell’s furniture and decorations had a sleek, modern aesthetic. Jase supposed this would make sense, since Lowell was a graphic designer. He’d probably spent time carefully picking things out instead of filling his house with whatever was easily available.

There were several magazines on the coffee table, most of them art or design related, though there was a men’s fashion magazine that had a really hot model on the cover. Jase decided it was safer to avoid that one, so he picked up an art magazine and flipped through it, barely registering what appeared in any of the pictures.

He kept thinking that Lowell lived in a completely different world than he did, one that was urbane and beautiful, not cluttered and full of kids and baseball games. For the first time since they’d been reunited, Jase started to feel a little bit of that breach between them that had formed when they were teenagers.

As promised, Lowell bounded down the stairs ten minutes later, wearing a navy blue T-shirt and a pair of madras shorts, his hair toweled dry. “Let me just figure out where I left my sandals,” he said, disappearing into the back of the house. He returned a moment later, sandals on his feet and keys in his hand.

“I’ll drive,” Jase said.

“Okay.” Lowell grinned. The grin was completely disarming, the sort of smile that transformed Lowell from a good-looking guy to a knockout. Jase felt that smile in his gut.

Buy it here!

Kate McMurray
www.katemcmurray.com
@katemcmwriter