Ring My Bell

By BA Tortuga

Collin doesn't have a lot of Christmas spirit this year. He's ringing a bell for charity as part of his community service, and it makes his head hurt in the worst way. When he finds an injured man on the road on his way home one night, he figures it's just another big headache. Gaz isn't just any guy, though. He's got a very angry boss, a few terrible scars where his wings have been ripped off, and a thriving phone sex business he needs to get back to in California. It's a long way from North Texas to Napa Valley, though. The chemistry between them is strong, but will they find enough common ground to have a Merry Christmas?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turtlehat Creatives
• Release date: Jul 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781951532420

Book preview

Ring My Bell

Ring My Bell

BA Tortuga

Turtlehat Creatives

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

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About BA

Afterword

Also Available from BA

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

Ring My Bell

Copyright © 2012 by BA Tortuga

1380 Rio Rancho Blvd #1319

Rio Rancho, NM 87124

Cover illustration by Anne Squires

Published with permission

ISBN: 978-1-942831-42-0

All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Second edition.

First electronic edition published 2012 by Torquere Press Inc. Second Printing: 2018 by Dreamspinner Press. Third printing: November 2019.

Printed in the USA

1

The bell-ringing gig was getting old. It really was. ’Course it was his own fault. That drunken brawl at the Oasis had cost Collin about five hundred dollars in fines and three weeks of volunteer work. As a Christmas bell ringer. It sure as hell lowered his Christmas spirit. So much for peace on earth, Collin was ready to have a mental breakdown. And the turkey leftovers were only just gone.

Damn it.

You know, every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings, some old blue-haired lady said while she dropped fifty cents into Collin’s donation can.

He bared his teeth. That’s what they say. Happy holidays.

You too, honey.

Shoot him. Now.

With a rusty motherfucking bazooka.

When his three-hour shift was finally over, Collin had frozen fingers, a permanent ringing in his ears, and a bad case of the growls. He wanted a pizza, a beer, and someone to rub his aching feet. Good thing he was easy to please and would settle for best two out of three.

He headed down to the end of the Walmart parking lot, where he’d parked his truck, and he groaned the minute his feet left the blacktop. Cowboy boots were not made for standing on concrete all day. They were made for shit kicking, which Collin still had to go home and do; his dogs and horses had been out all day. With his fucking luck, the barn had burned down.

Halfway home, Collin spied something in the middle of the road. Looked too big to be a coyote, too small to be someone’s cow, but it still had him slamming on the brakes when he got close. Goddamn. There was a crater in the damned road, and it was surrounded by bunches of white feathers, just like someone had hit a chicken truck. A big-assed chicken truck.

Problem was, the only thing in the crater in the road was a naked dude.

The guy didn’t look… damaged, really. No guts on the road. No smooshed parts. Just naked.

Naked and muddy as all get-out.

Collin crept right