Happy Happy Release Day!!! And Winners Announced

Heya Vicksters! It's release day for the Cabin for Two Anthology (yippee!!). And as promised I have two winners. One for the anthology and one for a free copy of any book from my backlist.

But first things first, you're probably wondering where you can purchase Cabin for Two right? Well, look no further!

Smashwords

ARe

Amazon

You can also go here: Mischief Corner Books or here: Mischief Corner Blog for more buy links. Everyone should go get a copy, you definitely won't regret it!

And NOW for the winners! *drumroll*

The winner of the free copy of the Cabin for Two Anthology is:

HELLE
The winner of the free copy of any book from my backlist is:
SUZANNE
Congratz ladies! Please send me an email at: vicktoralexander@vicktoralexander.com with your email information and letting me know what format of book you want (Suzanne I need to know what book you want) so that I can get that to you.
And now without further ado, here is the cover of the book and an excerpt:


From Toni Griffin's story "A Bear in the Woods":
Vincent Marsden didn't think he'd had a worse day in his entire life. He now understood exactly why he preferred driving over flying anywhere. It had all started three days ago with a conversation with his best friend, Mandy.
"You need a break," Mandy's usually soothing voice screeched down the phone line at him.
"No, I don't," Vincent replied.
"Yes, you do. I can do this all day until you finally give in and agree with me. I hope you realize this." The self-satisfaction in Mandy's voice was not lost on Vincent.
Vincent thought he might try a different tack. "I can't afford to go anywhere right now. I have to write." Vincent had hardly written a thing in the last month even though he had deadlines looming and edits he needed to return. He just couldn't seem to bring himself to do the work.
"Oh yeah," Mandy said in that tone that always made Vincent cringe. "Just how much have you written lately?"
Damn!
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, as I said, you need a break."
Vincent knew Mandy could be stubborn when she got an idea in her head, but he could be just as stubborn. "Mandy—"
"Stop!" Mandy sighed. She sounded so put out it made Vincent smile. "As much as you might hate this, I know you, Vincent Marsden. You need a break. You're run down; you haven't had a vacation in three years, not since you caught that prick, Jamie, screwing the bellboy in your hotel suite." Oh yeah, what fun that had been. Vincent didn't want to think about that now, though.
"Mandy, I really can't afford to go on a vacation right now." Vincent thought he'd give one last-ditch effort to try and get Mandy off this subject.
"I know. That's why I've taken the liberty of booking your vacation for you." The smugness in her voice really wasn't very nice.
"You what?" Vincent asked incredulously.
"Look, you know I got a nice inheritance when my grandad passed away six months ago. That money's not doing anything at the moment but sitting in the bank collecting interest."
"Mandy I can't let you do that." Vincent sighed, exasperated. "God, you're a pain in my ass."
"No I'm not. I have the wrong parts for you."
"Eww. I don't even want to think about your parts. How the hell did we start talking about your girly parts?" Mandy laughed and Vincent smiled at the sound. As big a pain as his friend was, he did love her to bits.
"Just lucky I guess. Now back to the hot topic. Namely, you on a vacation." Mandy snickered at Vincent's groan.
"I'm not going to win this argument, am I?" Vincent asked, resigned.
"Nope. Now listen as I tell you where you're going and what you're doing." Mandy sounded so superior Vincent wanted to reach through the phone and strangle his best friend.
Mandy had booked him a cabin in the Smokey Mountains for a week of relaxation. Vincent wasn't sure how much relaxing he could do as a young gay man in the middle of Tennessee and told Mandy so. She told him to stop trying to find excuses not to go.
So, pulling up his big boy undies, Vincent got to McCarran airport bright and early for his six am flight to Houston where he would then catch a connecting flight to Knoxville. Well, that had been the plan anyway.
After Vincent had boarded and sat in the plane for a half hour, they were told there was a mechanical failure with the radar and they were asked to disembark. Vincent was then forced to wait in line for over an hour with the other hundred passengers who were also missing connecting flights just so they could speak with one of the two people the airline had allocated to help them.
When Vincent finally got to the front of the line, he was informed the airline was bringing a new plane in, and he would be able to take the flight that was now due to leave four hours after his original one. This put him in Houston after his connecting flight was scheduled to leave. Vincent was booked onto a later flight that afternoon to Knoxville and he was once again all set.
The wait at the airport was mind-numbing. Vincent sat and people-watched. The line of frustrated passengers slowly dwindled down to nothing. He felt sorry for those passengers who had been seated at the back of the plane as they'd had to stand in line for several hours. At least Vincent could sit down now. He watched as people waiting for the flight went over to play the slot machines sitting in the middle of the terminal. Only in Vegas would you have slot machines in the airport.
Vincent wasn't a gambler, never had been. Even though he'd lived in Las Vegas his entire life, he could count on one hand the number of casinos he'd stepped foot inside, and that was just to see the shows.
Finally, a boarding call came over the loud speakers for his new flight, and he picked up his laptop and made his way onto the airplane. The flight was uneventful and long. When they reached Houston, Vincent looked at the departures board to find out what gate he needed for his flight to Knoxville only to have the monitor inform him his later flight had been cancelled.
"Great, that's just fucking great!" Vincent exclaimed to no one.
Once again Vincent found himself waiting in the world's slowest-moving line so he could talk to someone about how in the hell he was going to get to Knoxville tonight.
When it finally became his turn, the lady behind the desk told him the only possibility of making it to Knoxville that day was to fly to Chicago that afternoon then catch the 9:20 pm flight from there to Knoxville. Vincent sighed heavily and took his new boarding passes.
He was advised it would be a good idea for him to go down to baggage and pull his luggage and then recheck it to make sure it followed him on his journey.
So he headed all the way to the other side of the airport and left the security area to find his baggage, only to have the most obnoxious woman keep interrupting him, refusing to listen to a word he said.
He was told, in no uncertain terms, that there would not be enough time for someone to go out the back and find his luggage before his new flight to Chicago was due to board. The lady assured Vincent that his luggage would travel with him as it already stated in the system that he had been rerouted through Chicago and his bags would be as well.
Not happy but not having the energy to fight, Vincent left. He worked his way slowly back through security and headed to his boarding gate and sat down to wait.
It wasn't until fifteen minutes after his ticket told him he was supposed to have boarded that he realized something was wrong. Getting up and going to a counter where no one was waiting, he asked if there had been yet another problem.
Vincent was notified, once again that there had been a mechanical fault in the plane and there would be a short delay.
The short delay turned out to be an hour in the airport and another hour on the ground once they had boarded the aircraft. Vincent sat in his seat, constantly checking his watch, calculating the time it would take to fly to Chicago and when his other connecting flight was due to depart.
The crossover of when he would land and when his next flight would depart ticked off ten minutes before they finally took off. So now he would be stuck in Chicago with no flight to Knoxville. Vincent tried to sleep on the flight but he couldn't relax enough. It wasn't like he'd had a stressful day or anything.
Landing in Chicago, Vincent checked his watch and groaned when he realized they hadn't made up any time, and his flight should have already departed. Instead of giving up, he ran for it when he finally got clear of the other passengers. His only hope was another delay. Every other flight had been delayed today, so why should this one be any different?
Racing to the United counter, he got in line behind a little old lady. One of the staff came up to them and asked where they were headed. They both replied Knoxville. He was told to check the board on the other side, and the kind lady told him she would hold his place.
Vincent ducked under the barrier and made his way to the large screens that showed all departures and arrivals. He looked until he found Knoxville. Vincent let out a loud whoop and jumped in the air when his saw his flight had been delayed by two hours, now set to depart at 11:20 pm. He looked at his watch, saw it was just before ten, and made note of the gate.
He went back to the line and let the lady know that the flight had been delayed and asked if she would like to walk with him to the new gate. Gladys, as she told him her name was, gratefully accepted his gracious offer, and they headed off to the other side of the terminal looking for their gate.
Making it in plenty of time, they settled down to wait. Boarding was called on time, and Vincent boarded the smallest aircraft he had ever seen in his life. It consisted of a single seat then the aisle and then two seats. The poor man in front of him couldn't even stand up straight, the thing was so tiny. Only being five six had its advantages sometimes.
The cramped aircraft didn't take long to board and the one flight attendant made it through the safety procedures before the captain came over the speakers and explained to everyone they were going to have to sit tight as a storm had just rolled in and ground control had closed the runway until it passed.
Vincent bashed his head against the back of his seat. He was going to kill Mandy when he saw her next. So much for a relaxing vacation. He had never had a more stressful day in his life.
It had passed two in the morning before they finally landed in Knoxville. Vincent thought the deserted airport more than a little spooky. There wasn't another living soul anywhere he could see apart from the people from his flight. He made his way through the terminal to baggage claim and waited for his luggage. He only had the one bag and seeing how small the plane had been, he didn't think he would be waiting very long.
The carousel started up and bags dropped down, left and right people collected their belongings and went on their way. Eventually, Vincent was left standing by the now stopped conveyer belt with his luggage nowhere in sight. Vincent dropped heavily into one of the seats and waited to see if anyone would come to collect the few bags left on the belt.
Eventually someone came and Vincent spoke with the older man and was told to follow him. Vincent said he had to see about his car rental first, relieved he had called them from Houston to let them know he had been delayed and re-routed. He looked over to the rental booths and saw a tired-looking woman waiting for him.
The man told him where to go when he had gotten his car and Vincent went over to apologize to the lady and collect his keys.
It took Vincent more than an hour to make it out of the airport, sans luggage of course.
He had been informed that his luggage had never even left Houston. Stupid bloody woman! He had half a mind to go back there and let her have it. Apparently, his bag would be on the next available flight to Knoxville, and after taking down all his details about where Vincent was staying, the man told him they would deliver it to him tomorrow.
In the car he set up the GPS he had been given and got on the road. Vincent was so tired, but he just wanted to get to the cabin so he could start to relax. Plus, he didn't think he could actually sleep right now anyway. The drive would only take a little more than an hour.
He had called ahead to the cabins as well while he had been stuck in the Houston airport. The woman in the office told him a map and the key code to his cabin would be left for him in the drop box at the reception area.
The roads were near deserted at that hour of the morning, and Vincent made good time. He was quite proud of himself for only taking a wrong turn three times when he started to get up in the mountains. Yes, he had GPS, but no, apparently he still couldn't follow directions.
Finally arriving at his destination, Vincent pulled up in front of what he hoped to Christ was the reception building. He wanted this day to be over with in the worst possible way.
Vincent found the drop box and retrieved his map and key code along with a note that told him to come back down in the morning so they could complete his check-in.
He studied the map and found where 'Rest Assured', his cabin, was located. Getting back in his car, he tried to make his way there. It took a little while with all the twists and turns and the huge number of cabins in the area, but eventually, Vincent parked his car in front of his cabin. He grabbed his laptop bag and locked the car before going up the steps to his very large front door.
The place looked huge; Vincent wasn't sure what the hell he would do with all this space, but hopefully he would get the rest and relaxation he needed. He entered the code on the door and after the click, walked inside. He flicked the light switch and his breath caught in his throat at the stunning sight before him. Wood paneled floors and walls surrounded him. Comfortable-looking couches sat facing a fireplace that Vincent wanted to curl up in front of.
He placed his laptop bag on the wooden table and went exploring. He went upstairs and found his room with a giant king-size bed in the middle of it and an attached bath. Next, Vincent found the Jacuzzi and the pool table.
He opened the balcony and discovered a porch swing. Wanting to know what was on the balcony below, he raced back down the stairs. He felt giddy, like a kid on Christmas morning. Vincent wanted to kiss Mandy for making him do this.
He knew she had been here a couple of years ago for a family reunion and he had listened to her rave about how beautiful it had been. He couldn't wait to see the view during the day. Vincent couldn't really see much at the moment due to the fact it was approaching five in the morning. Not caring about that though, he flicked the switch to turn on the outside lights and take a look anyway.
Vincent took one step outside, looked to the left and saw another hot tub. He squealed in delight like a little girl and would have raced to it if not for a noise from his right. Looking over, Vincent's eyes widened. He screamed as he turned and ran back inside, slamming and locking the door behind him.
There was a goddamn bear sleeping on his balcony. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?


Congratz to Suzanne and Helle once again and for the rest of you, I hope you enjoy A Cabin For Two! Let me know how much you love it okay?

-Vicktor Alexander