Spotlight & Giveaway: Model Behavior by Tricia Lynne

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Tricia Lynne’s new release: Model Behavior

This time around, they’ll both have to take risks to make it work. Don’t miss this fun and flirty second-chance contemporary romance.

 
Hayes Walker is screwed.

His body is giving out, his family is bleeding him dry, and he never prepared for life after football. When the Dallas Bulldogs offer him a coaching position instead of a returning roster spot, only two things keep him going—staying fit in case another football team picks him up, and spending time with a gray-faced Boxer at the Unlovabulls Dog Rescue.

Olive Russo is a woman who can walk through a kennel in a white pantsuit without getting a spot on her. The always organized PR pro will need her cool control when she’s forced to plan a fundraising gala for the Unlovabulls with the college boyfriend who turned her inside out. A decade ago, Hayes Walker broke her heart and sent Olive into a spiral of bad decisions that she’d rather her clients not know about. Now she is determined to keep the completely lickable Hayes off her to-do list—even if their chemistry is stronger than ever.

Dumping Olive was the worst decision Hayes ever made. When the amazing girl walks back into his life a full-fledged woman, he makes a play for her heart. But when Olive’s secrets are exposed and the NFL knocks on Hayes’s door, they’ll both need to leave their past where it belongs if they’re going to make it work the second time around.

The Unlovabulls

Book 1: Protective Instinct
Book 2: Model Behavior

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from Model Behavior 

“Hayes, where the hell are you?” Olive mumbled as she unzipped her pants. “You’d better not flake on me.”
“I’m right behind you.” My voice came out deeper than I’d intended.
“Ahh!” she jumped, and I felt bad for a split second. Before I realized her pants were on the way to the floor.
“Jesus.” I tried to look away, but it was too late. I’d seen those amazing cheeks and they were tattooed on the inside of my eyelids.
“Holy fuck.” She spun to face me, clasping her chest. “Not. Cool. Walker. What the hell are you doing in here? How did you get in?”
I couldn’t help the grin. “Don’t you want to put some clothes on?”
“Don’t you?”
Yeah, that was my girl. Wait, my girl? “I would have gotten dressed in the bathroom, but I left my bag out here.” I nodded to the bag sitting in the corner chair, wiggled my eyebrows. “Didn’t realize you’d be getting naked in someone else’s office.”
“I thought I was alone, so I locked the door and started to change. Does Lauren have a shower in there? I thought it was storage.”
“No, darlin’. I washed off in the water fountain, wrapped a towel around my waist, then purposely waited for Lily to leave just so I could flash you my pecs.” Tacking on an evil laugh for kicks, I bounced said pecs à la the Rock, and damn near dropped my towel.
“Smart-ass.” The throaty chuckle that worked through her lips would have been worth the embarrassment of her seeing my semi. “Careful, there, buddy. You almost dropped that thang.”
“Sorry I scared you.”
She turned back to her bag and flashed me her ass again. “Christ.” I looked at the ceiling. “Olive, you’re flashing me your ass.”
“Isn’t anything you haven’t already seen. Why are you in Lauren’s shower?”
Shoulder rested on the door frame, I literally had to shake my head to think straight when she bent to pull a pair of khaki shorts up her legs and her panties rode up her cheeks.
Great. Now I had a full fucking hard-on. In a towel not even big enough to tuck in around my waist.
“Umm… Came straight from practice and Lil said I smelled.”
“Mmm, I used to love that smell.” The words fell out absently as she pulled something else out of her bag.
She was driving me to an early grave. “Are you doing this to me on purpose? I have to say, it’s not very friendly.”
She threw her head back and laughed. That laugh was life. It was a siren’s call, and I was starting to get close to the rocks.
“Nope. I’m just in a hurry. Though, it might be a little fun.” With deft fingers, Olive reached back and popped the hooks on her bra.
My palm was rough as I scrubbed it across my face and my hard-on kicked against the terry cloth.
“Don’t know if you heard but we’re filming a TV show here today. I’ve got lots to do.” She pulled some other kind of bra contraption over her shoulders like a jacket. That’s when I saw the side curve of her breast.
I growled. Fucking audibly. And it wasn’t friendly. It was predatory. “Olive.”
She picked up on the change in my voice, because as soon as the bra was zipped, she spun to look at me. Those dark eyes of hers slithered down my neck, over my pecs, down the abs I worked fucking hard for. Everywhere her gaze touched me, I lit up. The pink in her cheeks spread down her neck, over her chest. She wanted me, too.
Fuck, my c*ck jerked again, and she tracked the movement, her lips parting a hair’s breadth.
“Umm,” seemed to be all she could get out.
“My eyes are up here, Ollie,” I said with a cocky grin. Quickly, she flipped her gaze up to mine. “At least I tried not to look.”
“Whoops.” She chuckled, leaned her ass against the desk. “Busted.”
Leaning over to the chair in the corner, I pulled out my boxer briefs. “Two can play this game.” I turned away from her and dropped the towel. “An ass for an ass.”
“Her intake of breath made a rumble of laughter escape my chest. “That was nice, what you did for Lily.” When I bent to pull my drawers on, I was careful not to flash her the frank and beans.
“Mmhmm, s’my job.”
“I heard what you said. About me flaking?” Reaching down the front of my underwear, I adjusted myself, trying to get my hard-on to cooperate. “Did you really think I’d flake on this?” I turned back to her to read her face.
She shrugged. “It crossed my mind.”
“Have I been anything but dependable up to this point, Ollie?”
She let out a derisive snort as she pulled a Kelly-green polo shirt over her head. “I…I’m just…”
“Waiting for the other shoe to drop. For me to screw up again so you can tell me ‘I told you so.’”
I took the couple steps across the room knowing I should have given her space, but my brain was offline, and my signals were all mixed up. I needed to be close to her, to feel her skin under my fingertips.
Olive put a hand up between us. “Look, it’s going to take me a minute, Hayes. The guy I knew would’ve blown off a midterm for a taco truck in Corsicana. I’m trying here, Walker. I’m just having trouble separating past from present with you around. You make it hard for me to compartmentalize.”
“Ahh.” I took another step forward—one I knew I shouldn’t take—and pressed my chest against her upheld palm. “Which box do I belong in, Olive?” That was the thing, though. I deserved her derision and the skepticism. I had been that guy in college.
“I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “You get my boxes jumbled up. I don’t know where you belong.”
Leaning forward, I got close. Close enough to feel her warm breath fan against my lips. Only a cool whisper of air separated my mouth from hers. The tension, that anticipation, her elevated breathing, mine too. I would have given anything to touch her and ease the knot under my breastbone. “I belong right here, right now. With you.”

Excerpt From
Model Behavior
Tricia Lynne
This material is protected by copyright 2022

Excerpt. ©Tricia Lynne. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: One (1) eBook copy of MODEL BEHAVIOR by Tricia Lynne (Open to US and Canada)

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Meet the Author:

Tricia Lynne is fluent in both sarcasm and cuss words—a combination that tends to embarrass her husband at corporate functions. A tomboy at heart, she loves hard rock, Irish whiskey, dogs, and Vans (shoes). She’s drawn to strong, flawed heroines, and believes writing isn’t a decision one makes, but a calling one can’t resist. She lives in the Dallas area with her husband, the world’s sweetest rescued Cane Corso, and a completely terrifying Clumber Spaniel pup.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Model-Behavior-Unlovabulls-Book-2-ebook/dp/B08SC1HZQP/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/model-behavior-tricia-lynne/1138581129
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/model-behavior/id1547801315
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Tricia_Lynne_Model_Behavior?id=hbwSEAAAQBAJ
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/model-behavior-21