PORT IN A STORM - RHYS FORD

NEW RELEASE

Book Title: Port in a Storm (Sinners Series)

Author: Rhys Ford

Publisher: Dreamspinner

Cover Artist: Rhys Ford

Release Date: January 23, 2024

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Tropes: Married M/M Couple foster / adopt child

Themes: Dealing with childhood trauma, questioning whether the past makes a bad father, found family

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: 59 000 words/ 200 pages

It is book 8 in the Sinner’s Gin Series and does not end on a cliffhanger.

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Blurb

San Francisco SWAT Lieutenant Connor Morgan and Crossroads Gin drummer Forest Ackerman make an odd couple. Connor, an Irish-born cop from a tight-knit family, never imagined he’d find his happily-ever-after with a raised-on-the-streets musician, but Forest had the gentlest soul he’d ever met. After a long, hard road of heartbreak, murder, and trouble, they fell hard in love and married.

Then Fate intervenes and throws their lives into a chaos neither one of them is prepared for.

During a brutal SWAT raid, Connor stumbles on Tate, an abused, vulnerable little boy caught in a shoot-out with his father’s drug-running gang. As heavy fire riddles the walls, an injured Connor rescues Tate from the fray… only to be struck numb when a caseworker pries a sobbing Tate from his arms.

Scarred from his own childhood experiences, Forest doubts he can be a good enough father, but Connor assures him they can give Tate what he needs and more. Soon they are on an insane ride where trust and affection are hard-earned, especially when coming from a little boy raised in society’s filthiest gutters. Facing down every challenge thrown their way, they battle to give Tate what Connor treasures and Forest never had—a family to call his own.

Excerpt

“Got a little boy—I think—here. Anywhere clear to get him out?” Pain flared in Connor’s shoulder when he moved. The child’s weight pulled down on his muscles, straining the tender spots blooming on his back. He’d either landed in something wet or the hits he’d taken were more serious than he thought.

“Negative, but I can give you cover,” Yamamoto said over the comm. “Working back down the hall. Can you hold?”

“Holding.” Connor wrapped his arms around the boy’s torso, trying to cover as much as possible. “Get your arms down, kiddo, and grab anything you can on my vest.”

The child was rigid, legs stick straight and stiff. His tiny hands were dotted with bruises and dried blood, his knuckles bleached white when his fingers tightened around the straps on Connor’s armor. He buried his face into Connor’s chest, breathing hard and heavy when another round of gunfire opened up in the hall.

A pair of large dark shadows fell across the opening in the wall, and then Yamamoto angled his back against one side of the broken drywall. He gave Connor a hand signal, then counted down from three to a closed fist and began a heavy barrage of sprayed shots. Gun drawn, Connor ducked out to the right, keeping the boy against his chest. He moved quickly, pausing at openings and long stretches of the hallway, alert to any movement.

When his boots hit the living room floor, Yamamoto gave the all-clear to move the fight to the back of the house again, leaving Connor with an easier egress. The young man they’d left for the other team was gone, hopefully safe and sound away from the raid. The pain along Connor’s shoulders was turning from a dull throb to a raging fire, and as he tried to clear the mound of debris, he stumbled and caught the tip of his boot on something hard. The kid let out a short yelp of terror when Connor’s grasp loosened. Then he sobbed brokenly as Connor tightened his grip.

“I’m not going to drop you,” he reassured the little boy. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

About the Author

Rhys Ford is an award-winning author with several long-running LGBT+ mystery, thriller, paranormal, and urban fantasy series and is a two-time LAMBDA finalist with their Murder and Mayhem novels. She is published by Dreamspinner Press and Rogue Firebird Press.

They’re also quite skeptical about bios without a dash of something personal and really, who doesn’t mention their cats, dog and cars in a bio? They shares the house with Harley, a grey tuxedo with a flower on her face, Badger, a disgruntled alley cat who isn’t sure living inside is a step up the social ladder as well as Gojira who is a chaos goblin masquerading as a tabico. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep of a 1979 Pontiac Firebird and enjoys murdering make-believe people.

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