Title: Keeping Cade
Author: SE Jakes
Series: Crave Club #1
Genre: M/M/M, Menage, LGBT
Release Date: May 27, 2019
Protection has its price, but so do fantasies…
Fantasy Week happens twice a year at Crave, and it’s always a big hit—a way to live out your wildest fantasy in a safe, sane, and consensual manner.
But when Cade comes in with his Fantasy Week invitation, he’s not happy about it. He’s stoic as hell and his preferences don’t seem to match his fantasy at all…and yet, despite that, he enjoys himself with Tegan and Vic. At least at first.
When it becomes glaringly apparent that the fantasy isn’t something Cade’s comfortable with, it’s confusing for the men he’s been paired with, and Tegan and Vic put a stop to the scene immediately.
What Cade doesn’t know is that Tegan and Vic are not only co-owners of Crave, but they’re also owners of a mercenary group, Gray Ops, that’s run out of Crave. They’ve also been circling each other for years… but nothing sparks until their session with Cade.
What happened in Room 4 is something none of the men can forget…but it’s got nothing to do with a fantasy and everything to do with blackmail. Can Tegan and Vic help Cade keep his secrets, while keeping all of them safe at the same time? Because the threatening to spill out aren’t only Cade’s…
*This series is set in the MEN OF HONOR world, in the bar called Crave from Bound By Honor*
“Am I being chauffeured or can I take my own truck?” Cade asked as they walked out the back door of Crave, leaving behind Oz’s yells of “I can’t promise what I’ll do if you leave me alone with him.”
“We’ll drive you,” Tegan told him.
“Why don’t you just carry me across the threshold of the fight club when we get there?” Cade muttered.
“Didn’t know you needed that level of romance,” Vic said seriously. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
Cade sighed heavily and got into the back seat with Vic, while Tegan drove. He guessed it was for protection, and arguing wouldn’t change a damned thing. He needed to preserve his strength anyway.
Vic handed him a Gatorade and a PowerBar. “Eat up.”
Cade muttered, “Fucking starving and this shit tastes like cardboard.”
“Fight first, then I’ll get you a goddamned buffet,” Vic promised.
“There’s a McDonald’s on the corner,” Cade pointed out hopefully.
“You had an entire pizza recently,” Vic reminded him.
“Recently to me is the last hour.” Cade bit into the PowerBar and stared at Vic. “I think this went bad.”
Vic frowned. “They can’t go bad.”
“We’ll drive you,” Tegan told him.
“Why don’t you just carry me across the threshold of the fight club when we get there?” Cade muttered.
“Didn’t know you needed that level of romance,” Vic said seriously. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
Cade sighed heavily and got into the back seat with Vic, while Tegan drove. He guessed it was for protection, and arguing wouldn’t change a damned thing. He needed to preserve his strength anyway.Vic handed him a Gatorade and a PowerBar. “Eat up.”
Cade muttered, “Fucking starving and this shit tastes like cardboard.”
“Fight first, then I’ll get you a goddamned buffet,” Vic promised.
“There’s a McDonald’s on the corner,” Cade pointed out hopefully.
“You had an entire pizza recently,” Vic reminded him.
“Recently to me is the last hour.” Cade bit into the PowerBar and stared at Vic. “I think this went bad.”
Vic frowned. “They can’t go bad.”
What is the biggest influence/interest that brought you to this genre?
I’ve always been interested in writing M/M stories -- in some of my very first books (my Sydney Croft co-write series) featured a 6 book M/M subplot and that was published by Random House beginning in 2007. I also included several M/M subplots in my Stephanie Tyler series as well. But ultimately, what pushed me into the LGBTQ writing community was the mainstream romance community itself, and an idea that I had for an M/M book that would become Bound By Honor, my first MM with Samhain publishing.
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process(outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
Well, it’s definitely not plotting (total pantser here!) -- but I love character names and backgrounds. My characters walk onto the stage, fully formed. I don’t know where they come from but I’m so grateful they’re there, waiting (usually not so patiently) for their turn. From there, I try to just sit back and follow their lead. It’s their story, and I try to do them justice.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
I try to stay away from the exact genres I’m writing (which is MM romantic suspense / action-adventure) but that’s my first love. I’ll read thrillers instead or serial killer books (fiction and non) and rock star bios. But give me a good old contemporary romance, and I’m yours. Because honestly, when I read them, the authors make the plot and the stories appear effortless and I get sucked in and I’m like “I can do this!” But no, I can’t--what seems simple really isn’t. And I always end up killing or bribing or otherwise causing grave danger to someone by the end of Chapter 1, so it’s not really my forte.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
Well, I’ve co-authored already, with Larissa Ione and it was a fantastic experience, so I know that you really have to fit with the person you’re writing with. And to that end, I’ve got a couple of people I’m in the process of making plans with so...them! I promise I’ll tell you when things are firmed up.
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
No, I always wanted to (first story was when I was six years old, written during a blackout and titled (shockingly!) “BLACKOUT.” LOL! I loved to read and write, but I was always told I could never make a living writing. Seriously--no one ever said differently, so I tried out different things (Borders Books Manager, went back to school for my MA in English Lit and MAT in Secondary Ed) and taught Middle School and College. And I wrote nothing during that time that wasn’t school related. But everything changed when my daughter was born--she was very, very medically fragile and we spent months in the hospital. When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to work, I knew what I was going to do. I’d been reading romance novels--a nurse handed me one when my daughter had her first of many major operations and I lived in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with her for 3 months (seriously - they started giving me the employee discount in the cafeteria!). I realized that I could only deal with happy endings from books at that point, and I went into writing with one goal: If I could help one person sitting by a loved one’s bedside escape mentally when they couldn’t physically, I’d done what romance novels did for me during those three months.
I’ve always been interested in writing M/M stories -- in some of my very first books (my Sydney Croft co-write series) featured a 6 book M/M subplot and that was published by Random House beginning in 2007. I also included several M/M subplots in my Stephanie Tyler series as well. But ultimately, what pushed me into the LGBTQ writing community was the mainstream romance community itself, and an idea that I had for an M/M book that would become Bound By Honor, my first MM with Samhain publishing.
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process(outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
Well, it’s definitely not plotting (total pantser here!) -- but I love character names and backgrounds. My characters walk onto the stage, fully formed. I don’t know where they come from but I’m so grateful they’re there, waiting (usually not so patiently) for their turn. From there, I try to just sit back and follow their lead. It’s their story, and I try to do them justice.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
I try to stay away from the exact genres I’m writing (which is MM romantic suspense / action-adventure) but that’s my first love. I’ll read thrillers instead or serial killer books (fiction and non) and rock star bios. But give me a good old contemporary romance, and I’m yours. Because honestly, when I read them, the authors make the plot and the stories appear effortless and I get sucked in and I’m like “I can do this!” But no, I can’t--what seems simple really isn’t. And I always end up killing or bribing or otherwise causing grave danger to someone by the end of Chapter 1, so it’s not really my forte.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
Well, I’ve co-authored already, with Larissa Ione and it was a fantastic experience, so I know that you really have to fit with the person you’re writing with. And to that end, I’ve got a couple of people I’m in the process of making plans with so...them! I promise I’ll tell you when things are firmed up.
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
No, I always wanted to (first story was when I was six years old, written during a blackout and titled (shockingly!) “BLACKOUT.” LOL! I loved to read and write, but I was always told I could never make a living writing. Seriously--no one ever said differently, so I tried out different things (Borders Books Manager, went back to school for my MA in English Lit and MAT in Secondary Ed) and taught Middle School and College. And I wrote nothing during that time that wasn’t school related. But everything changed when my daughter was born--she was very, very medically fragile and we spent months in the hospital. When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to work, I knew what I was going to do. I’d been reading romance novels--a nurse handed me one when my daughter had her first of many major operations and I lived in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with her for 3 months (seriously - they started giving me the employee discount in the cafeteria!). I realized that I could only deal with happy endings from books at that point, and I went into writing with one goal: If I could help one person sitting by a loved one’s bedside escape mentally when they couldn’t physically, I’d done what romance novels did for me during those three months.
SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want in both fiction and real life. She lives in New York with her family and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…
KOBO / AUDIBLE / SMASHWORDS / iTUNES
EMAIL: authorsejakes@gmail.com
Keeping Cade
Men of Honor Series
