Book
Name: Damaged Package
Author
Name: S.A. McAuley
Author
Bio: I sleep little, read a lot. Happiest in a foreign
country. Twitchy when not mentally in motion. My name is Sam, not Sammy,
definitely not Samantha. I’m a pretty dark/cynical/jaded person, but I hide
that darkness well behind my obsession(s) for shiny objects. I’m the macabre
wrapped in irresistible bubble wrap and a glittery pink bow, I suppose.
Author
Links:
Cover
Artist: Garrett Leigh
Publisher: Self-Published
Blurb(s):
Forced into early retirement from his career as a
SWAT officer for the city of Detroit, James Deacon knew that when he failed it
would be a fall of epic proportions. He’s been living life by the tips of his
fingers for over twenty years, and his new gig organizing a group of misfit
military types into a functioning team—including his reluctant ex-fiancée—won’t
return him to stable ground anytime soon.
Trevor Barrow has been on the move for the last
seven years—hitting the road when relationships became too real or too much
work. He’s home now, working in the hazardous world of bike messengers in the
Motor City, and the only one of his eight siblings who knows he’s returned is
his sister Cat. It’s not as if reconnecting with them matters anyway, because
it’s likely he’ll be gone again soon.
Both men are lugging some heavy baggage, but when
they chance upon each other in a dive bar it’s hard to deny their flaws are
more like symbiotic quirks. Trevor’s backpedaling instincts and Deacon’s
dance-dance party past may just be intersecting at a time when things are about
to get explosive in Detroit.
Excerpt:
Deacon paid for
their last-round of drinks and they stood at the bar as the lights clicked on.
He reached out and swept back a lock of Trav’s fringe, letting his fingers
linger against Trav’s sweat-slick skin.
“You gotta let
me take you home,” Deacon said.
Trav scoffed and
took a drink of his beer. “Worst pick up line ever.”
“I thought the
worst was saying that I’d never seen you at Honest John’s before?”
“Yeah. You’re
pretty bad all around.”
But instead of
feeding Trav another line, Deacon made the conscious decision to give an honest
reply. “Dating’s just not my scene.”
Trav tipped his
head and studied him. “You know what? I don’t know if I’m supposed to believe
you and be reeled in by how unconventional you are, or if this is all a game
for you.”
He shrugged.
Already he knew there was little he could do to sway Trav either way—Trav was
perceptive. “I’ll give you time to decide that for yourself. In the mean time,
though, I’m serious. Let me at least ride with you in the cab back to your
place. I don’t live far from you and it will make me feel better to know you’re
safe.”
“I ride a bike
in downtown Detroit for a living, James. Pretty sure I can handle myself.”
Deacon’s lips
curled into a smile at both Trav’s use of his first name and his brash
confidence. “I’m positive you can.”
“Well, then…
What? That doesn’t…” Trav pursed his lips together in a thin line and left the
remains of his trailing thoughts unsaid. Trav took another swig from his beer,
emptying the cup and setting it on the bar. “Whatever. Yeah, you can take me
home. But I’m not inviting you up. Got it?”
Deacon would
take it. He held out his hand and waited for Trav to decide it was okay to take
this one small step. When Trav’s fingers curled around his after only a
heartbeat of hesitation, Deacon worked through the lingering crowd to the front
door, unable to wipe the triumphant smile from his face.
The ride back
into the city didn’t take as long as it had to get out to Ferndale. The city
became a ghost town after a certain time of night. And they’d passed that
threshold hours ago. They rode in silence, with hands still touching if not
intertwined, and when they pulled up to the Park Shelton, Deacon paid the
cabbie and got out with Trav.
It took a moment
for Trav to realize what had just happened. He watched the cab drive away,
glared at Deacon, back down the road, then put his hands on his hips. “Whoa.
Whatcha doing getting out of the cab? I distinctly remember not inviting you
up.”
“Huh,” was all
Deacon said as he pointed at the cab disappearing around a corner. “But there
goes my ride.”
“I’m not
a first date slut.”
Deacon groaned
playfully, but his heart skipped a happy beat to hear Trav considered this a
date, too. “You're not going to make me count out dates or something like that,
are you?”
Trav’s fingers
drummed against hips as he seemed to be considering his options. Yet barely
restraining a smile at the same time. “Just for that response? Maybe.”
Deacon dropped
to his knees on the sidewalk, and raised his clasped hands to the heavens,
pleading to Trav in an overly loud voice, "Please, Trevor Barrow! What do
I have to do for you to let me up to your apartment, Trevor Barrow? I just want
to watch the History Channel or maybe So You Think You Can Dance, Trevor
Barrow. I promise I have nothing lewd or lascivious—”
A group of
female college students walking by giggled at his display, providing a running
commentary as they eyed the scene unfolding on the sidewalk. “Dude, Trevor
Barrow, you should let him up.” Then, “He's cute. He can come back to my
place.”
Deacon couldn't
have planned his public begging session better.
Trav blushed and
laughed out loud. “Alright. Off your knees.”
“At least for
now!” one of the girls yelled as they turned the corner.
Trav sighed,
offered his hand and pulled Deacon up toward the front entrance of his
apartment building. “You're going to give me a reputation, Deacon.”
“I earn every
reputation I give.” Deacon smirked and held the door open for Trav once he’d
swiped his key card.
“Where did the
tears suddenly disappear to? The histrionics?”
He shrugged. “I
got my way.”
Trav stopped in
the doorway and looked up at Deacon wide-eyed. “Holy shit. You really are
certifiable.”
Deacon ran his
finger along Trav’s jawline, wanting nothing more than to kiss Trav. But
whether Trav wanted to believe it or not, what happened between them next was
up to Trav. “Cat’s completely right. She just should have waited for you to
find that out on your own.”
Trav shook his head,
his voice laden with sarcasm, but his stunning eyes crinkled at the corners in
silent laughter, “Yeah, like that would've taken me long.”
Tour Dates: 7/14/14
Tour
Stops: MM
Good Book Reviews, Parker Williams, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Havan Fellows, Prism Book Alliance, Nephylim, Velvet Panic, Scattered Thoughts
& Rogue Words, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Fallen Angel Reviews, My
Fiction Nook, The Hat Party, Sinfully Sexy, LeAnn’s Book
Reviews, Amanda C. Stone, Love Bytes, Smoocher’s Voice, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Full Moon Dreaming, Pants Off Review, Because Two Men Are
Better Than One, It’s Raining Men, Michael Mandrake, Iyana Jenna, Emotion in Motion
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Rafflecopter Prize: Signed paperback of Damaged Package (contest open internationally)
Rafflecopter Prize: Signed paperback of Damaged Package (contest open internationally)
Sales
Links: http://samcauley.com/my-books/damaged-package/
"Bonafide klutz with bad timing!"
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