Beta Test (#gaymers)

Beta Test
By Annabeth Albert

Player vs.
Player.
Fight!

Brilliant graphic designer Ravi Tandel is ahead of the game—he’s just been asked to present a top secret project at a huge conference in Seattle. All systems are go...until he learns his buttoned-up office nemesis is coming along for the ride.

Tristan Jones isn’t really the gamer type, but he knows the back end of the video game business inside out. Together, he and Ravi will give an awesome presentation.
If
they survive the cross-country trip first.

Tossed together in close quarters, Ravi’s shocked to see Tristan’s sexy, softer side emerge from such a conservative shell. He’s less shocked to learn his handsome colleague’s prominent family would never support an out-and-proud son. But Ravi didn’t struggle through his own coming out to hide who he is now. To be together, Tristan will have to push past his fear and ultimately decide: Does he want a future with Ravi? Or is it game over before they’ve even begun?

Book Two of the
#
gaymers series

This book is approximately 64,000 words

Dear Reader,

I don’t know about you, but when someone asks me for book recommendations, I first ask them what some of their favorite authors or books are, so I can give them something similar, but different. Taste matching is a pretty common way of getting recommendations for anything, really, from chocolate to TV shows to books, so I decided to do some taste matching with our Carina Press May titles.

If you love Kristen Ashley...

Anna del Mar’s contemporary romance may be just up your alley. One of the things I love about Kristen is that she tends to write long, giving us a chance to dive into the characters and relationships, and Anna offers the same great escape. In
At the Brink
, Josh Lane is blunt, ruthless, intense and exacting; a workaholic driven by internal demons; a man who doesn’t play games, except in bed, of course, where he is always in command. Lily Boswell is trapped in a dangerous situation and Josh has no problem taking advantage of that—to protect her and to get her into his bed.

If you love Jackie Collins or Sidney Sheldon...

Remember the awesome sweeping international feel of the ’80s glam romances? The characters were wealthy, they were dramatic, and they were no-holds-barred. Join Laura Carter’s Vengeful Love trilogy as it takes us from London to Dubai in a dark and suspenseful, sinfully sexy tale of love, betrayal and sex. Pick up books one and two before diving into this month’s nail-biting finale,
Vengeful Love:
Black Diamonds
.

If you love Josh Lanyon...

You’ll love A.M. Arthur. Both Josh and A.M. are wonderful at sweeping readers into brilliant characterization and developing relationships. In
Come What May
, the first book in the brand-new All Saints series from A.M. Arthur, we meet Jonas Ashcroft—son of a conservative state senator, carefree frat-boy player, and
definitely
not gay. But when Jonas meets Tate, he’s introduced to a life he’s never known. One filled with acceptance and sex and a love that terrifies them both.

If you love Eloisa James or Sarah MacLean...

The sharp wit of Sarah and the fabulous heroine-centric story lines of both Sarah and Eloisa are some of my favorite things about their historical romances. Amanda Weaver’s Grantham Girls trilogy shares similarities with both and is absolutely delightful. A spirited heiress is determined to land a titled husband, but an undeniable passion with a man from her past threatens both of their futures in
A
Common Scandal
.

If you love Pamela Clare...

Suspense, romance, action...what’s not to love about Pamela Clare? Piper J. Drake follows in Clare’s bestselling footsteps with her romantic suspense Safeguard series. Kyle Yeun is a very bad man and way too tempting in all the wrong ways, but mercenary Lizzy Scott needs to keep him alive long enough to provide
Deadly Testimony
in court even if it means there will be no rest for the wicked.

If you love Heidi Cullinan...

Annabeth Albert is an author you should check out. Fun and fabulous, romantic and swoon-worthy.
Beta Test
is an enemies-to-lovers, opposites-attract road-trip romance that will remind you of all the things you love about male/male romance.

If you love Linnea Sinclair or Sharon Lee or Steve Miller...

That’s right, if you’ve been craving a dynamite space-opera romance, then you’ve been missing out on the Chaos Station series by Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke. Love in space? Yes, please. Good versus evil? Check. An ongoing romance that sweeps the galaxy book over book? Delivered. Start where the adventure begins in
Chaos Station
and devour the titles leading to this month’s release,
Phase Shift
.

Backlist bonus taste matching:

If you love Jaci Burton...

Make sure you’re not missing out on Kate Willoughby’s In the Zone contemporary sports romances.

If you love Liliana Hart...

You’ll be enamored with the spunky Lexi Carmichael mysteries from Julie Moffett.

And if you love the Hitman series from Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick...

The dangerous hero of
Didn’t I Warn You
by Amber Bardan is right up your alley!

As always, until next month here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books you love, remember and recommend.

Happy reading!

Angela James
Editorial Director, Carina Press

Dedication

To the readers who loved Ravi and Tristan first: Tara, Edie, and Wendy—your insightful comments and support mean the world to me.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Epilogue

Author’s Note

Acknowledgments

Also by Annabeth Albert

About the Author

Chapter One

Tristan read the manual. Actually, to be precise, he read the
Christopher Exploration Industries Employee Handbook
for the second time as he sat in the conference room the receptionist had shown him to. The manual had a big space volcano logo on it, along with a small subheading proclaiming “home of
Space Villager
,” the flagship online role-playing game the company developed here at its Santa Monica headquarters.

He’d read the PDF the HR person had sent over a week ago, and now he was reading the paper copy while waiting for his orientation to begin. PDF was great, but paper meant he could use his new highlighter. He might be done with grad school, but there was something soothing about underlining the most important bits of information. It made him feel ready on a day when his muscles jangled with nervous energy. Focusing on highlighting kept his racing pulse at a manageable level. Even though he’d been through the intensive interview process and had stacks of research on the company littering his living room, he still couldn’t believe they’d picked him to work on the game the whole tech industry was buzzing about.

Even the conference room was impressively techno-hip with screens on almost every wall, including a huge one that took up almost the entire front of the room, like a movie screen. A massive oak table occupied the middle of the room, surrounded by space-age seats that looked like the progeny of a high-end movie theater and a Mercedes. The room itself was weirdly dim with track lighting glinting off all the reflective surfaces. Tristan felt a bit like he’d wandered onto a sci-fi movie set. Any minute now, a dictator would emerge through a hidden panel and start revealing the invasion plans to his minions.

Instead of some dark lord, however, the perky brunette receptionist poked her head into the room.

“And here’s our other new employee! Tristan, meet Ravi Tandel. He’s a graphic designer, and you guys will be going through orientation together.” She opened the door wider and a guy in his midtwenties sauntered in. And yes,
sauntered
was 100 percent the right word. The guy wore lime-green skinny jeans, a cream sweater, and a lime-and-cream scarf draped more artfully than the valances in Tristan’s mother’s living room. He had poofy Elvis-esque hair, and when he moved it was with an effortless I-own-this-room confidence and grace.

And something about him made Tristan feel about as cool and significant as yesterday’s coffee grounds.

“Hey.” Ravi held out his hand.

“Hiiii—
whoa
!” As Tristan tried to stand, he somehow tripped a mechanism in the chair, tipping precariously backward, almost flat, and hey, there was a screen on the ceiling too, but
whoops
, trying to sit up catapulted the whole contraption forward, dropping him in a heap right at Ravi’s feet. They were nice feet, but clad in ridiculous-looking purple loafers with no socks.

“You okay?” Ravi hauled him up, his grip firm and sure. He was stronger than his thin frame would suggest, and he was actually an inch or two taller than Tristan.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Tristan brushed his navy dress pants off before retreating back to a different chair, one hopefully less out to get him. He pulled his laptop case and handbook over to the new spot.