Spotlight & Giveaway: Willing Prey by Allie Oleander

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Allie Oleander to HJ!

Hi Allie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Willing Prey!

 
Hi, thank you so much for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Claire Collins likes to be chased. Sexually. She’s also newly divorced and up to her eyeballs in student loan debt. So when her ex-husband’s boss, Shane Underwood, proposes a business arrangement—30 days as his sexual prey in exchange for thirty thousand dollars—she signs on the dotted line. Shane’s going through a midlife kink-awakening, and he wants to explore his primal interests with Claire without the complication of a relationship, but ultimately catches feelings for the woman he’s hired to be his prey.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

My body is on edge, every cell screaming predator. A man I barely know is waiting for me in a dark room, disregarding normal boundaries, but he sounds so polite. We could be at the holiday party; a piece of me feels like he’s going to bring up the cat sweater, for fuck’s sake. It’s unsettling. Is Shane the harmless type of odd? Or wear-my-skin-to-this-year’s-Christmas-party odd?

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I wrote most of this book from a hammock in the woods and a chair on the front porch.
• Willing Prey was originally a self-published novella, so I call this full-length version “extra-girthy.”
• I existed on fruit snacks and Coke Zero while drafting Willing Prey—brain food!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Claire piques Shane’s interest when he learns that she enjoys primal kink—via her soon-to-be-ex-husband oversharing about their “camping trips.” Then, once she’s divorced, he believes his interest in her is purely sexual and presents the business arrangement. Once the thirty days have begun, he’s attracted to how competitive and crafty she is as he hunts her.

Claire is initially attracted to Shane’s appearance, but truly falls for him when she realizes that underneath his intense, somewhat intimidating exterior, he’s a secret cinnamon roll.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

In general, I laugh at my own jokes and puns harder than they deserve, so I cackled my way through writing this book. One of the scenes that amused me most is when Shane tries to explain the arrangement he has with Claire to his brother, Caine.
(Side note: writing three siblings named Shane, Caine, and Delaney also made me chuckle.)

Snippet:

“I’m sure there’s a tasteful, subtle way to work up to telling my brother that there’s a woman staying in my house so I can hunt her. A way to set up the reveal so that it comes across as mildly eccentric, or maybe even funny. Chugging four Jack and Cokes to get my nerve up and blurting, “I think I’m in love with the woman I’m hunting,” is not that way.

Unfortunately, it’s the way I chose.

I’m sitting on a futon in a stranger’s living room. Caine’s cross-legged on the floor, the feathered cat toy he was dragging back and forth now limp on the rug. An orange tabby waits beneath the coffee table, tail flicking as if convinced the toy’s stillness is a trap. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen my brother speechless before.

He stares at me for a full minute before responding. “I don’t know what part of that sentence has me more fucked up, hunting or love.”

“Trust me, it’s the love part.” I’ve made peace with the hunting. So I like to chase a breathtaking woman through the woods, wrestle her into submission, and fuck her until she screams. There are far more concerning interests I could have.”

Readers should read this book….

If they love high-heat romance with primal play, characters in their 30s/40s, kink-awakening, transactional relationships, and child-free HEAs, I think Willing Prey would be a great addition to their TBR!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on an untitled standalone novel in the same universe as Willing Prey! Early readers loved a certain tattoo artist & personal assistant, so I’m excited to share that they will be getting their own feral love story. It’s a little bit darker, a little bit wilder, and just as much fun. 🙂
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One finished copy of WILLING PREY, US only giveaway

To enter Giveaway: Please share this post and leave a comment to this Q: Would you rather vacation in the woods, or at the beach?

This giveaway closes 3 days from the date of this post.

Excerpt from Willing Prey:

Unease swirls and squirms in my stomach as I step out of the shower. I’ve been in Shane’s enormous house a whole day without seeing him or being summoned, giving me little to tell Sydney when she calls to check on me. The smartwatch chafes—mentally, not physically. I should never commit a crime. Besides the fact I’m a horrible liar, an ankle monitor would drive me crazy. Not that I aspire to be a criminal, but still, it’s helpful to know.

Tapping the screen to check the battery hasn’t died has become an obsession. Every time it flashes on, proving there’s no technical reason I haven’t been summoned, my frustration grows. I need to get the first hunt over with. There’s no relaxing until I know how the next thirty—or, since today is technically day one, twenty-nine—days will go.

Margot’s advice rattled me, filling my head with doubts I should have had when Shane first propositioned me.

What if I can’t handle this?
What if he does something that causes irreparable psychological or physical damage?

The contract stated he would be responsible for any medical care I’d need as a result of this job, but does it matter who pays for my hospital stay if he breaks my back and I never walk again? What if he’s so monstrous in the woods that it steals my love for nature? What if I leave here too traumatized to enjoy two of my favorite activities: hiking and camping?

When I read the contract, everything seemed reasonable, but now I wonder if my desperation for $30,000 made me overlook red flags. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s overlooking red flags. And he’s a lawyer. Fuck. I signed a contract he wrote without asking anyone else to review it. At the time of signing, I felt confident in my own ability to spot anything sketchy. Now, sitting in Shane’s house, waiting for him to send me a more sinister iteration of a you up? text, it’s difficult not to wonder if I overestimated my own abilities.

After Margot left earlier, I unpacked and explored the house, hoping to run into Shane. I never did, so I occupied myself by working out and making dinner. Now, fresh from the shower, I plan on watching trash television on my laptop until I fall asleep. Unless he summons me. Maybe that’s his thing. Lulling prey into believing they’re safe for the night, only to summon them at three in the morning.

Wrapped in a towel, I walk out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. The sun set while I was in the shower. The room is dim, lit only by the bathroom light’s glow. Rummaging through a dresser drawer, I find a pair of boy-short underwear. Dropping my towel, I slip them on, then reach for one of the oversized T-shirts I wear to bed.

“Don’t.” The command comes from behind me.

My yelp is as high-pitched as his voice is deep, as unhinged as his voice is composed. Pressed to my breasts, the T-shirt is a flimsy shield as I whirl. My hip catches the open drawer. Damnit.

From the corner of the room, relaxed in the leather easy chair, Shane watches me. Shadows obscure his face. I can’t see where he’s looking, but I can feel it. The heat of his gaze makes me wonder how I didn’t know he was here, how I didn’t feel him watching the second I stepped out of the bathroom.

“Um, hi.” I try to be polite even though I want to ask him who the fuck just sits in the dark waiting for someone to come out of the shower.

The kind of man who pays someone to be hunted and fucked.

“Did you summon me?” I poke the watch screen without dropping my shirt, suddenly panicked he’s been trying to, and I somehow missed it. What if he’s changed his mind, and I’m being sent home?

“No, I didn’t.” The sound of leather creaking lets me know he’s shifted. His voice is even, almost formal.

My body is on edge, every cell screaming predator. A man I barely know is waiting for me in a dark room, disregarding normal boundaries, but he sounds so polite. We could be at the holiday party; a piece of me feels like he’s going to bring up the cat sweater, for fuck’s sake. It’s unsettling. Is Shane the harmless type of odd? Or wear-my-skin-to-this-year’s-Christmas-party odd?

“All right.” I’m intensely aware of how he can see me, but I can’t see him. I don’t know what to say. I want to ask him why he’s in here, but it’s his house, so technically, he can be anywhere.

“Are you curious why I’m here?” as if plucked from my brain, the question is asked in that same pleasant voice. It’s deep, almost melodic, and could be soothing under different circumstances. Right now, it’s foreboding in a way that makes me want to start running even though he hasn’t told me to.

“Yes. Margot said you don’t spend much time with prey outside the woods.”

“I don’t,” he says, “but I decided to sample what I’ll be hunting. It’ll make the chase more enjoyable.”

Sir, this is not a Costco.
And sampling wasn’t in the contract.
As I try to figure out if he means he’s truly here for a taste-test or if he plans on sitting in the corner and watching me get dressed, he speaks again.

“Do you know your safe word and cue to submit?”

I nod. Wanderlust. Yield. They were on a paper in my folder, tucked right behind the results of his STI test and semen analysis. Apparently, Shane had a vasectomy three years ago. Wanderlust means I need to stop because something’s gone too far. Yield means he wants me to stop trying to fight him off so he can fuck me. Until he says yield, my job is to keep trying to run, even if he catches me.

The check-in eases my apprehension slightly. If he’s thinking about consent, he isn’t planning on making me into a skin suit.
Probably.
“Good. Get on the bed.” The command is delivered casually. I almost obey on reflex, but catch myself.
This feels like a trap. We’re inside the house, and he didn’t say yield.
“Why?” the firmness in my voice startles me. It must startle him too. I catch a glimpse of his silhouette as he straightens.
“Because I told you to get on the bed.” Each word could be its own sentence. There’s a cautionary note in his voice. The verbal equivalent of a yellow light.
Somewhere beneath the warning, I hear a challenge. My competitive side makes me reckless. I don’t want to pump the brakes. I want to go soaring through the intersection, just to see if I make it across or get smashed by a semitruck.
Life or death.
I slip the shirt I’m still clutching over my head. “Make me.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

An exhilarating, primal summer fling in the woods leads to an intensely sexy, edgy romance, where anything goes—just remember your safe word.

Divorced and buried in student loan debt, Claire Collins eagerly enters a spicy business agreement with an acquaintance who wants to explore his primal desires. The deal is simple: thirty days as his sexual prey, $30,000 in her bank account. All she has to do is give Shane Underwood the hunt of his life.

Claire’s a physical education teacher and perfectly happy to spend her summer having wild, kinky sex instead of working her usual serving job. But once they cross the tree line, she realizes how little she knows about the corporate lawyer paying her to be his prey.

Shane is different in the woods. Brutal. Devastating. Feral.

That’s okay with Claire—she is, too. And she’s sinking her teeth a little deeper into Shane’s heart every time he catches her.
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Meet the Author:

I write high-heat contemporary & dark(ish) romances with kink exploration and characters ages thirty-five and up. Chase scenes are my favorite, the marriage-in-trouble trope makes me swoon, and monsters (of both the spicy & unspicy variety) have me kicking my feet.

If I’m not writing, I’m wandering around the Appalachian foothills with my spouse & dogs. Or napping. I love a good nap.
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