About Braided Lives, A BBA Menage Novel
by AR Moler
170 pages / 47000 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-217-0
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Danny Valentine is Division P’s East Coast/International ‘Fixer’ and
general go-to guy. He’s had to come to terms with his bisexuality and his
empathic abilities despite his military background. Peter Vithoulkas is
Division P’s immensely gifted healer, possessing one of the rarest of
Talents. All fire and discipline, Peter is bisexual too, but it doesn’t
color his day-to-day reality until he spends some time under fire with
Danny. Busy Danny and Peter fall into a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship
that neither thinks much about.
Jennifer Sebastiano is an artist from a conservative family background who
works part time as a forensic police artist. She spends a lot of time in
crime victim’s heads, seeing what they saw and helping them identify the
criminals. It’s Jen who shows Danny and Peter what they’ve really got
between them. Danny and Peter think that Jen should be between them as well,
but Jen isn’t sure if she really fits there. As their three lives entwine,
can Jen let go of societal and familial expectations? Can Danny and Peter
convince Jen that there is a place for her in their unconventional
relationship?
Review
Jane Davitt, author of Hourglass, writes: 'Braided Lives' by AR Moler is
set in a world that's an intriguing mix of the known -- the characters work
for the CIA -- and the different, because they all have psychic talents. The
story builds the relationships between the three main characters in a slow
interweaving, making the title a perfect match for the story, because just
as a braid would fall apart if one of the strands were to be removed, this
relationship is stronger and more stable with all three people present,
though it's a while before they all grasp that.
Danny is one of the people in charge of the department and the people in it,
Peter a healer, Jennifer a forensic artist. Each has their own issues and I
loved how the author makes it clear that their abilities come with a price.
We see Peter heal the injured, but there's no magic wave of his hand; the
process leaves him weakened, sometimes dangerously so. Jennifer's art comes
from a dark place as she channels the people responsible for the deaths she
helps to solve and Danny is overwhelmed in crowded situations by the
pressure of the minds around him.
We see them each confront the downside of what they can do and win through
with the support of each other and there's a real sense of a bond beyond the
physical. The sex scenes are intense and romantic and the love story
believable. The scenes where we get to see them doing their job out in the
field weave some thriller aspects in with the romance, which I enjoyed.
Sample
As far as bribery and coercion went, it didn't actually
take much to convince Peter that a night away would be a good thing. Finding
an available room in a decent hotel, though, took Danny a good half dozen
phone calls.
They found a tolerable restaurant facing the boardwalk, and went walking in
the surf on the beach. In the light of the setting sun, the number of people
on the beach was diminishing. They ambled a mile or so in the direction of
Rudee Inlet before Danny's forays into the edge of the surf splashed a surge
of water up the leg of Peter's shorts. Danny caught the flutter of
aggressive amusement from Peter and a moment later Peter was chasing him
through the surf, seeking revenge. Jennifer rolled her eyes and followed at
a slower pace. Dashing in and out of the water's edge, Danny managed to stay
mostly out of reach of Peter's splashes, not that he was trying all that
hard. He hadn't anticipated the tackle from Peter however, and they landed
in the sand, Peter's arms fastened around his hips.
Peter rolled Danny over, crawling up his body and straddling his waist,
pinning Danny's wrists to the sand. They were both still breathing fairly
hard as Danny stared up into Peter's hazel eyes. He felt suppressed laughter
and a hefty dose of lust from Peter. God, this was so much closer to normal
for Peter that Danny felt a sense of relief. Peter's face dipped toward his
and a soft kiss was placed on his mouth.
"Gotcha," Peter said.
Danny gave him a grin, and bucked up under Peter's spread legs grinding his
groin against Peter's balls. "You can have me any way you want me," taunted
Danny.
"Oh? Is that a fact?"
"Well, buck naked out here on the beach might pose some problems…"
Peter laughed and gave Danny a hand up as Jennifer was catching up to them.
"Are the two of you done with the rough housing?" she asked.
"Maybe," replied Danny. "I was thinking maybe we should head back to the
hotel and stress test the mattress." He grabbed Jen and flung her over his
shoulder so her torso hung down his back. She let out a squeal of
indignation and beat her hands against his butt as he began walking down the
beach. He barely caught the devious revenge thought before she implemented
it. Suddenly he was being given a serious wedgie as she yanked hard on the
waist band of his briefs.
"Jesus God damn it!" he shouted, as his nuts were being squeezed between the
fabric and his body.
"Put me the fuck down! Or I'll pull harder!" Jen shouted.
"Okay, okay!" he yelped, noticing that Peter was doubled over in laughter.
Danny let Jennifer's body slide down his back slowly as he kept hold on her
legs until he could see her hands hit the sand behind his feet. "What is
this? Gang up on me day?"
"Oh hell, that was priceless," Peter snickered. Danny grabbed his shorts and
adjusted himself to relieve the pressure.
"So says the guy whose nards are still intact," groaned Danny.
"Oh come on, I could have pulled a lot harder," replied Jen, sticking her
tongue out.
"Don't stick it out unless you intend to use it," Danny said.
"What makes you think I won't?" she taunted. Oh, that got Danny's attention.
Peter was laughing again. "How 'bout I kiss it better when we get back to
the hotel?"