Evergreen: Love in Los Angeles, #1.5

By Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese

Home is where the heart is. Especially around the holidays. But when your life -- and your loves -- are scattered around the country, navigating the winter season can be hard.

 

When bisexual, polyamorous TV star Liam Campbell returns home to New York City for Christmas he discovers his best friend (with benefits) Charles has recently embarked on a new, serious relationship. Thrown by the shifting nature of that connection, Liam seeks advice from his chosen family of ex-lovers, current lovers, and colleagues. But with each of them focused on their own pursuit of holiday cheer, Liam is forced to put his fear aside, take a deep breath, and ask for what he wants.

 

This holiday season novella is book 1.5 in the Love in Los Angeles series. While this is low-angst and high-heat story, please be aware that the larger series is high-angst and includes characters with a past history of self-harm.

This title was previously published by Torquere Press. This is a newly updated, expanded, and revised edition.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Avian30
• Release date: Dec 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540191168

Erin McRae

Racheline Maltese can fly a plane, sail a boat, and ride a horse, but has no idea how to drive a car; she's based in Brooklyn. Erin McRae has a graduate degree in international affairs for which she focused on the role of social media in the Arab Spring; she's based in Washington DC. Together, they write romance about fame and public life. Like everyone in the 21st century, they met on the Internet. Sign up for Erin and Racheline's newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/65dMz Learn more at their website: http://Avian30.com

Book preview

Chapter 1

Liam Campbell is vaguely aware that going home for the holidays for him is not like going home for the holidays for other people.

The problem is not even that he’s on TV and whoever he sits next to on the plane is usually bad at treating him like he’s a normal guy flying home for Christmas. As unpleasant as that can be, Liam’s been an actor since he was a kid. Pretty much everyone in his life is famous or exists adjacent to the neurotic and image-obsessed television industry. The awkwardness that brings to his life is something he’s used to.

What makes Liam’s life actually complicated – and awesome – rarely has anything to do with fame. Being a celebrity means more people are interested in his personal life than is convenient. In the last year, Liam came out as bi in the media and got engaged to his girlfriend. These details, especially in combination, have only exacerbated public interest in his private life.

Plus, most people – famous or not – don’t kiss their fiancée goodbye in the car on their way to LAX only to get picked up eight hours later at JFK by their childhood best friend and occasional lover.

YOU RENTED A CAR? Liam asks in confusion as Charles opens the hatchback of the tiny subcompact. Five days before Christmas, the curbside arrivals at are hectic and crowded even by New York City standards.

I wasn’t gonna pick you up in a cab. Charles tosses in Liam’s bags, slams the trunk closed, and pulls his hat more snugly over his close-cropped black hair.

It was eighty degrees when Liam left his house in Los Angeles this morning. Here, it’s snowing. Though the contrast the flakes make against Charles’s dark skin in the instant before they melt is lovely. Also, his wool coat makes his shoulders seem even broader than they already are. Or maybe Charles has been working out more. Liam wants to find out.

Yeah, I’m still not getting the thing where you picked me up at all? Liam wishes he’d remembered to bring a hat too.

Charles shrugs, circling around to the driver’s side door. "You have news. I have news. You’re getting married. Least I could do was drag ass to the airport."

Yeah, so, about that, Liam says, as folds himself into the Yaris, brushing snow out of his own dark curls. You wanna be my best man? He and Carly have been engaged for almost a year now, but the chaos of their lives means they’re not any closer to making significant plans about the wedding than they were when Liam proposed. The holidays are a perfect time for Liam to do what he can to fix that.

Charles gives him an amused and wary look. You’re not asking Victor?

Oh, God, no. Liam is, for all he loves Victor, horrified at the thought. And we will talk about that eventually but not right now.

Victor is a lot of things. The two most important are that he’s the showrunner of The Fourth Estate, the hit network drama on which Liam stars, and that he’s the most consistent and longest-term lover Liam’s ever had. Except for the part where they don’t exactly fuck. Victor’s asexual, and the power dynamics – both in and out of the workplace – make everything about their situation complicated. That’s been true for years, though, and navigating it has never felt difficult before. Something about Victor, polyamory, and his upcoming wedding... in combination it’s all too much, for reasons Liam is still struggling to figure out.

The situation with Charles, on the other hand, is easy. At least, it should be. Technically, Liam has been with Charles even longer than Victor, but he doesn't think of him as a lover. He’s Charles, the boyhood friend with whom