Crossfire

By Jackie Keswick

Martin Pendleton was the most beautiful man I'd ever met.
He was also the first man I'd ever been attracted to.

I'm Dean Gilchrist, and my twin sister Cat and I run a small tech startup. Looking for angel investors isn't my favourite way to spend time. Not even when they're gorgeous and charming. But there's gorgeous and charming, and then there's Martin Pendleton.

I've no idea why Martin caught my eye. Could be his charisma. Could be the hint of frost at his temples. Could be his voice. All I know is looking at him gives me the shivers and one word from him can turn me into the awkward, tongue-tied nerd I used to be. Nobody else has ever managed that. It's all very strange.

Stranger still, Cat is totally fine with my sudden interest in batting for the other team. Not that I've done an awful lot of batting for the regular side, you understand. And I’ve no idea how to go about wooing a guy. But the way Martin makes me feel? I've got to try this, even if it kills me. And with the way bullets suddenly start flying... it just might.

Contemporary MM romance novella set in England, featuring a romantically unenthusiastic introvert with an awesome twin sister and a sophisticated older man with a secret. An introspective little love story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie Keswick
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463767306

Jackie Keswick

Jackie writes a mix of suspense, action adventure, fantasy and history, loves stories with layers, plots with twists and characters with hidden depths. She adores friends to lovers stories, and tales of unexpected reunions, second chances, and men who write their own rules. She blogs about English history and food, has a thing for green eyes, and is a great believer in making up soundtracks for everything, including her characters and the cat.

Book preview

CROSSFIRE

JACKIE KESWICK

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Crossfire © 2018 Jackie Keswick.

Cover Art © 2018 Emma Griffin

Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

Keep in Touch with Jackie

Become a Patron

Join Jackie’s Kitchen

Like Jackie on Facebook

Follow Jackie on Bookbub

Follow Jackie on Instagram

Follow Jackie on Twitter

Sign up to Jackie’s Newsletter

Other Books by Jackie

Zero Rising Series

When a zero realises its power, worlds can be changed. The Zero Rising series is the story of Jack Horwood, a boy who decides that living on the street is preferable to being owned by a pimp, who finds the courage to reach back when a Jamaican hacker holds out a hand to help him up, and who grows into a fiercely independent, fiercely protective hacker vigilante.

Zero Rising is set in England between 1995 and 2012. It ends just before the beginning of Job Hunt, the first book in the Power of Zero series.

The Power of Zero Series

Jack Horwood has not had a home since his mother sold him to a pimp, has not had a family since he walked out on his Army career. Now he spends his days chasing secrets for MI6 and his nights chasing pimps and men who buy children for sex, seemingly content until Gareth Flynn, his former Army CO and the man he fell for when he was seventeen, walks back into his life.

Suddenly endings turn into new beginnings, two scared, abused boys need his help, and his past won’t let him go even as he tries to make a new life for himself.

Rock & Art Theft series

Follow the relationship of music star Matisse Vervein and art detective Josh Ingram. Thrown together by a whim of their superiors as a means of solving a tricky case, Josh and Mat must learn not to judge each other by appearances (or the jobs they do) before their mutual attraction has a chance to go anywhere. Once it does, there are other challenges for them to face and cases to solve.

A feel-good romance series with a dash of music and art theft.

A Balance of Magic series

Two worlds, separated by a veil and linked by magic. Threatened by the very people sworn to guard them.

Carrying both celestial and earthbound magic, the Yuvine are the only ones who can pass the veil at will. Solitary and secretive, they guard the worlds and balance the magic … until greed and lust for power upset that balance with disastrous consequences for both the human realm and the Otherworld.

Those who are drawn into the fight to save the worlds—a death good, three Yuvine, and a group of human witches—find themselves thwarted at every turn. Because the reason the two worlds are dying is more terrible than they could have imagined. Until the only choice left is whether to save two worlds or each other…

Standalone & Series Starters

Standalone stories and novels ranging from action and adventure romance to paranormal fantasy and holiday reads.

Check out Jackie’s website, www.jackiekeswick.co.uk, for book details and series reading orders, release news, snippets, outtakes and teasers.

Blurb

Martin Pendleton was the most beautiful man I'd ever met.

He was also the first man I'd ever been attracted to.

I'm Dean Gilchrist, and my twin sister Cat and I run a small tech startup. Looking for angel investors isn't my favourite way to spend time. Not even when they're gorgeous and charming. But there's gorgeous and charming, and then there's Martin Pendleton.

I've no idea why Martin caught my eye. Could be his charisma. Could be the hint of frost at his temples. Could be his voice. All I know is looking at him gives me the shivers and one word from him can turn me into the awkward, tongue-tied nerd I used to be. Nobody else has ever managed that. It's all very strange.

Stranger still, Cat is totally fine with my sudden interest in batting for the other team. Not that I've done an awful lot of batting for the regular side, you understand. And I’ve no idea how to go about wooing a guy. But the way Martin makes me feel? I've got to try this even if it kills me. And with the way bullets suddenly start flying… it just might.

Chapter One

I'm so sick of dirty socks in the hallway and damp towels on the floor. But you know how it is…

I nodded in sympathy and signalled the waiter for more wine. Olivia Pendleton was soft-spoken, immaculately groomed, and in possession of a toned, curvy figure designed to attract and hold a man's interest. She was also, very obviously, still attached to the man she was married to.

The perfect mark for me, in fact.

I offered time, sympathy, and admiration—all the things her husband no longer provided, usually until said husband got the message and paid me a hefty amount of money to make myself scarce. Meanwhile Cat, my twin sister, performed a very similar service for Martin Pendleton. She had joined him halfway across town, was listening and sympathising, and being rather obvious about it until Olivia remembered that marriage was meant to be a team effort.

Together, the two of us were cheaper than therapy or marriage counselling, or whatever else it was couples did these days to rescue their relationships. It usually worked like a charm, too.

Dean? Are you listening to me?

Truth be told, I wasn't. I'd heard it all too many times to care. But I had manners, and business sense, so I smiled, and apologised, and wrenched my mind away from contemplating lashes like dusky fans against chiselled cheekbones, from dreams of inky blue eyes and a most sensual pout.

Not that I succeeded for long.

Martin Pendleton was the most beautiful man I'd ever met.

He was also the first man I'd ever been attracted to.

The attraction had grabbed me by the balls and the gut as soon as I'd caught sight of his sinfully long legs and broad shoulders, and had seen that his brown hair was shot through with a little silver at the temples. Then I'd noticed the eyes with their ridiculously long lashes, and the near-lethal pout, and the attraction settled in for good.

I lost every argument I tried to have, whether it was with my head or my dick.

It wasn't just