Tempted to Taste

By Shawn Lane

Ryan Callahan’s parents died in a boating accident off Sutter’s Bay when he was five years old. Now Ryan is back in the bay ready to live in the Victorian reproduction house his father built for his mother. And ready to get his dream job a chef in a restaurant. The job of head chef seems to fall into his lap when Mabry’s is short staffed, but when the sexy as sin owner, Chris Mabry, returns from vacation he fires the inexperienced Ryan on the spot.

Ryan’s dream seems to be over before he gets a chance to prove himself, but when Chris realizes how bad his restaurant’s situation is, he rehires Ryan. As Mabry becomes a success, things sizzle between Ryan and Chris and soon Ryan is cooking for Chris personally.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jan 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781634861489

Shawn Lane

Shawn Lane is a multi-published author of gay romance. She lives and works in Southern California. She has been published by Loose Id, Amber Quill Press, Evernight Publishing, MLR Press, JMS Books, and Ellora’s Cave. For more information, visit smlgr8.blogspot.com.

Book preview

Tempted to Taste

By Shawn Lane

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2016 Shawn Lane

ISBN 9781634861489

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

NOTE: This book was previously published by Amber Quill Press.

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Tempted to Taste

By Shawn Lane

Chapter 1

Ryan Callahan pulled his motorcycle into the driveway of the isolated house and turned off the engine. He made no move to get off the bike. Wasn’t sure he was ready.

So this was the house his father, Jack Callahan, had built before Ryan was even born. It was on a hill, up a private lane. He could see the closest house a few miles away, the lights shining in the windows, but there was no direct neighbor. Which could be good or could be creepy. Ryan wasn’t sure which.

The house hadn’t been occupied for five years when the last renters had moved out. Ryan had been told a neighbor came by once a month to check on it but that it likely would need some work. Probably some paint for the outside, too, he noted, staring at the faded, cracking bright blue paint. It had been built Victorian style for his mother, Meg. Or so Ryan’s grandparents told him.

Ryan had been barely five when they’d both died in a boating accident. He couldn’t remember them, not much anyway, and he couldn’t remember this place, though apparently he’d spent his first five years in this house on a hill in Sutter’s Bay.

Of course Ryan knew the rumors even though his grandparents had tried to shield him from them. People said it was a murder suicide. Jack had drowned Meg, then himself. He had a picture of them taken around the time they got married. They looked unbelievably happy and in love. But Ryan knew life was more complicated than what could be seen in pictures.

He leaned back to ruffle the head of the small mutt poking his head out of the saddlebag on the side of his motorcycle. I guess we’re here, Jonesy.

Jonesy, a rather ugly dog made up of yellow matted fur, licked him enthusiastically.

There was no reason not to go into the house. Ryan had the keys in his pocket. The deed to the house in his papers. Yet still he just sat waiting on his motorcycle.

Waiting for what? He had no clue.

Finally he swung off the motorcycle. He had little with him. He had Jonesy and a small bag of personal belongings and a sleeping bag. Hell, Ryan didn’t even have a job. He’d had to borrow money to get the water, electric and gas turned on in the house. For that matter he had to borrow the money to get from Maryland, where he had lived