Footprints in the Sand: Rules of Summer

By L.M. Somerton

FROM AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF LGBTQ+ ROMANCE L.M. SOMERTON

The Rules of Summer

Sun, sea and submission...a different kind of dream holiday.

When Ben's best friend's appendix throws a wobbly, Ben has to holiday alone. He plucks up the courage to attend their planned mini BDSM break as a solo submissive, determined to have some fun, even if he doesn't find the Dom of his dreams. When he meets handsome local beachcomber Rhys, Ben hopes holiday romance might turn into more—but Rhys isn't quite what he seems and Ben has to reconcile his need to submit with his doubts about Rhys' honesty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Jul 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839430541

L.M. Somerton

Lucinda lives in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. She started writing to fill time between jobs and is now firmly and unashamedly addicted. She loves the English weather, especially the rain, and adores a thunderstorm. She loves good food, warm company and a crackling fire. She's fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and her stories contain some subtle (and some not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM.

Book preview

Author

Pride Publishing books by L.M. Somerton

Single Books

Mountain Rescue

Black Dog

The Portrait

Stroke Rate

Chemical Bonds

Testing Lysander

Owned by the Sea

The Wyverns

Mantrap

Deathtrap

Rattrap

Sand Trap

Steel Trap

Tales from The Edge

Reaching the Edge

Living on the Edge

Dancing on the Edge

A Double-Edged Sword

Rough Around the Edges

Scorched Edges

Driven to the Edge

Binding the Edges

Investigating Love

Rasputin’s Kiss

Evil’s Embrace

Tarot’s Love

Warlocks

Elemental Love

Elemental Hope

Elemental Faith

The Retreat

Serving Him

Trusting Him

Fairground Attractions

Ghost Train

Merry-Go-Round

Helter Skelter

Anthologies

Racing Hearts: Keeping the Luck

His Rules: Tagging Mackenzie

Rules of Summer

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

L.M. SOMERTON

Footprints in the Sand

ISBN # 978-1-83943-054-1

©Copyright L.M. Somerton 2020

Cover Art by Claire Siemaszkiewicz ©Copyright July 2020

Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Pride Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2020 by Pride Publishing, United Kingdom.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorised copies.

Pride Publishing is an imprint of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Rules of Summer

Sun, sea and submission…a different kind of dream holiday.

When Ben’s best friend’s appendix throws a wobbly, Ben has to holiday alone. He plucks up the courage to attend their planned mini BDSM break as a solo submissive, determined to have some fun, even if he doesn’t find the Dom of his dreams. When he meets handsome local beachcomber Rhys, Ben hopes holiday romance might turn into more—but Rhys isn’t quite what he seems and Ben has to reconcile his need to submit with his doubts about Rhys’ honesty.

Dedication

To summers of love.

Trademark Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Super Noodles: Batchelors

Speedos: Pentland Group plc

Dick Dastardly: Hanna-Barbera Productions

Penelope Pitstop: Hanna-Barbera Productions

Tiffany: Tiffany & Co.

Facebook: Facebook, Inc.

Instagram: Facebook, Inc.

Snapchat: Snap Inc.

Mills & Boon: Harlequin Enterprises

Mars bar: Mars, Incorporated

Frisbee: Wham-O

Chapter One

Ben stared into the setting sun, admiring the watercolour streaks of pink, amber and gold brushed across the sky. Warm waves lapped over his toes, which were sinking into the sand. He bent to pick up a shell—grey and black stripes outside, the inner surface a glowing rainbow of iridescent colour. He shoved it into the pocket of his shorts to mingle with a couple of Euros and a crumpled hanky.

Probably the only souvenir I’m going to get this week. He sighed. He had been looking forward to this mini-break for almost a year. Four days of fun and frolics at a luxurious Italian beach resort catering for men of a kinky persuasion. At least, it did for the dates he’d booked—for the rest of the season it was a gay-friendly but open-to-all kind of place.

Ben and his best friend Riley had planned and dreamed and saved their money all year, eating far more Super Noodles than was healthy. Bussing tables at a trendy restaurant in Jericho didn’t pay well, but it was all an overworked university student could aspire to, and it was flexible. Ben needed to work around the demands of his architecture course and Riley usually had his arse super-glued to a seat in the library, as he was reading linguistics. The academic workload at Oxford was relentless—finals had been a living nightmare—but now it was over, and Ben and Riley had forgone the champagne-soaked celebrations to save every penny for their trip.

Then, three days before they were due to depart for sunnier climes, Riley’s grumbling appendix had thrown a major wobbly. The only compensation for emergency surgery was the blue-light ride in an ambulance in the company of a hot, bossy paramedic who had promised him a date once he’d healed.

Typical. Trust Riley to find himself a dommy type without even trying. Ben kicked at the waves. Riley had insisted Ben shouldn’t cancel the trip because he was laid up. Riley had gotten his money back through his travel insurance, but Ben didn’t have that option. With Riley’s encouragement, he had packed his bag with skimpy shorts and even skimpier swimwear, groaned at his appalling passport photo and caught a train to the airport. Scared but determined to have some fun, Ben had decided that for a few days he could fight his nerves and pretend to be the out and proud submissive he was in his head. But now he was