The Way To A Man's Heart by Silvia Violet

It has often been said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and several of the heroes in my books believe in this maxim. I love to cook so it's natural for me to write characters who are at home in the kitchen. In Astronomical, Blake catches Greg's eye as soon as Greg moves in next door, but he seals Greg's interest by making him an amazing dinner. Greg has daily fights with the toaster and wouldn't dream of trying something more complicated, so being served a delicious chicken curry (http://www.marthastewart.com/274310/slow-cooker-recipes/@center/854190/comfort-food-recipes#/283153) thoroughly impresses him. Then, the real kicker, brownies for dessert, but not just any brownies. These have a surprise in the middle, Oreos.

The best thing is, Oreo brownies are super easy to make, so if you want to wow a man or you'd just like to impress the crowd at the next summer cook out, all you need to do is stir up some brownie mix as instructed on the box but leave out the water.  Then add ½ cup softened cookies-and-cream ice cream and ¼ cup chocolate fudge topping. Layer half the batter in an 8x8 pan, cover it with Oreos, then cover the cookies with the rest of the batter.  Bake according to the directions on the brownie mix and you'll have something sinfully good, something to bring any man to his knees.

Astronomical by Silvia Violet

Purchase at Silver Publishing

Blurb:

A hot, kilt-wearing astronomy geek with a powerful telescope. A tongue-tied librarian who likes his orderly life. Where will their attraction lead them?

When sexy, kilt-wearing astronomy professor Greg MacIntyre moves in next door, Blake Theriot knows he's in trouble. Blake is a research librarian, and he likes things orderly and controlled. But in his secret fantasies, he craves a big, powerful man like Greg to stir up his life.

Every time Blake tries to talk to his erudite neighbor, his brain shuts down and his vocabulary is reduced to one-word utterances, but when Blake's niece challenges him to invite Greg to dinner, he does. A few shots of after-dinner whiskey loosen Blake's inhibitions, and the two men share a hot kiss and the promise of more. Can Blake relax enough to give himself a chance with Greg, or will his fear of letting go ruin his hopes for love?

Excerpt:

The front door banged open, making me jump. I muttered a curse as I looked at the spaghetti sauce I'd splattered on my shirt. I'd have to change before I headed to work.

"Blake, are you in the kitchen?"

"Yeah."

My sister's shoes made a swishing sound as she walked through the living room and into the kitchen. "It smells great."

"Thanks." I answered absently as I looked through the spice rack for cayenne.

"Have you been outside lately?"

I shook my head. Renee had a conspiratorial tone in her voice that told me trouble was coming. I focused on the sauce. I would not fall prey to her scheme, whatever it was.

"You should come check out the view."

"What?" I tasted the sauce and added more pepper. "Why?"

"When you told me your new neighbor was an astronomy professor, I imagined someone even geekier than you."

Heat rose to my cheeks like it did every time I thought about Dr. Greg MacIntyre. No one had caused such a strong a reaction in me in years. The man was truly devastating. Tall and beefy with wavy red-gold hair I longed to run my hands through, preferably while on my back throwing my legs over his shoulders. No need to choose between brains and brawn with him.

But during the few conversations we'd had, I’d babbled like a fool in response to his erudite remarks. If Greg was gay—and he'd given me no solid reason to believe he was—he wasn't going to want a drooling imbecile for a partner.

Renee started to say something else, but she was interrupted by her daughter, Haley, rushing into the kitchen. "Hey, mom. I thought I heard you come in."

Renee was raising Haley on her own and she worked three night shifts a week as a nurse in pediatric intensive care. Haley usually spent those nights with me and occasionally stuck around for a few hours the day after Renee's last shift so her mom could catch up on sleep or run some errands.

Haley turned pleading eyes on me. "Dr. MacIntyre is outside. Can I go meet him now?"

My shirt was stained. I'd overslept and raced out of the door without shaving or doing anything to tame my curly hair. I was rushing to get dinner made because I'd agreed to fill in for someone at the main campus library and had to go back to work.

But Haley had been anxious to meet Greg since he moved in a week ago. She loved astronomy and all the mind-boggling math it required. She'd seen Greg setting up a telescope in his backyard and hoped he'd let her take a look through it. I couldn't deny her the chance to meet a real-life astrophysicist, especially one so well-respected that LSU had lured him away from Berkley for their Advanced Gamma Ray Survey Mission. I wasn't sure exactly what the program's professors did, but their work sounded impressive and expensive.

I sighed. I'd already made an ass of myself with Greg, what difference did it make how I looked?

"Sure. Just let me—" Before I finished my sentence, Haley shot out of the door. I nearly busted my ass racing after her. Renee laughed as I stumbled down the porch steps.

When I reached the yard, my heart nearly stopped. Greg was indeed outside, up a ladder, fixing a broken gutter, wearing nothing but a utility kilt. A fucking kilt. Could he get any more perfect?

I stared, frozen to the spot. My mouth watered as I took in his muscular legs, his round ass, the broad expanse of his back. He reached up to hook the gutter back in place, and I bit my lip to hold in a groan at the sight of his muscles flexing.

"Uncle Blake?" Haley snapped me out of my trance. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh…yeah. I'm fine."

Her lips turned up in a mischievous grin. "You like him, don't you?"

"Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "Dr. MacIntyre."

I prayed her loud whisper hadn't carried across the yard. "He's a nice man."

"Right."

Not a conversation I wanted to continue. "Come on. Let me introduce you."

As we got closer, I had to resist the urge to look up Greg's kilt. Sweat rolled down my temples as I wondered whether he was naked under there. At least in the Louisiana heat, everyone was sweaty.

"Hi, Greg," I called.

He looked down and smiled. His green eyes sparkled, and my cock responded. I so didn't need to be standing there with a hard-on.

Buy it at Silver: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/products_id/1051

Buy it at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Astronomical-ebook/dp/B007Z3QXU6

Silvia Violet

Surrender To Your Darkest Needs

Visit me: http://silviaviolet.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/silvia.violet

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Silvia_Violet