“That arrogant sonofabitch! That voicemail… How dare he?
Picking up my phone, I typed out a text in response. Because let’s face it. I wasn’t calling him back and risking him pulling me over to the dark side.
Olive: Don’t flatter yourself, Walker! You weren’t a good lay in college, the only way for you to go was up. I’m guessing you peaked at average.
Oh, sure, it was a boldfaced lie. Hayes had been a great lay. If he’d gotten better? Oophf, the thought made me rub my thighs together. I wasn’t stupid, I knew he’d used the voicemail to bait me into exactly this situation. But what really irked me was that he knew I was making excuses to avoid seeing him, and he was busting my balls about it.
I didn’t dodge the hard stuff. Hard stuff was my bread and butter. Yet that was exactly what I’d been doing. If he left me a voicemail, I emailed him back because even just his voice on the messages had been enough to make my nipples pearl.
Truthfully, I knew spending any time at all with Hayes could be a slippery slope. There would be no get him out of your system bangs, or quickies for old times’ sake. Hayes and I didn’t work like that. We’d been down that road before. It wasn’t paved with good intentions like folks said—it was paved with compound fractures and class A misdemeanors.
Hayes Walker had an inexplicable pull on me. Being in his orbit was all- consuming. Not because I disappeared or he absorbed me, but because he challenged me to do, be, try, live, in a manner that I’d never entertained pre- Hayes. He focused on what was right in front of him. His present was all that existed.
It was what I loved most about him when we were together a decade earlier. But it could also make him impulsive. Reckless at times. Often, without much thought for how his actions affected others.
Hayes: Uhh, you wound me! Especially considering the night when the guy in the next apartment called the cops on us because of how loud you came.
I couldn’t help the laugh that burst from my lips.
Olive: ME! THAT WAS YOU! YOU WERE ALWAYS THE SCREAMER!
Hayes: Mmm, says the woman texting me in shouty capitals.
True story. My neighbor had told the cops he thought my cat got stuck under the bed again, given the yowls and grunts and hisses he heard coming from the apartment. And that was just Hayes.
Hayes: Remember when I’d do the finger thing that made you sound like a squeaky toy? Always made me feel all caveman and shit.
Hell yes, I did. And it had starred in many a late-night fapping session. I beat the back of my head against the kitchen wall trying to knock the thought loose.
It didn’t work.
Olive: I am NOT talking about that with you. I texted to tell you I am looking at scheduling meetings with different venues for the rescue’s gala in the next few weeks. If you can give me a few days to choose from, I’ll try to work it so you can attend.
Hayes: Hang on a sec. Let me run and get my glasses.
Oh, my damn. When had he gotten glasses?
In for the night, I grabbed my wineglass off the island and chugged the rest. “How is he even for real?”
Hayes: Okay, I’ve got my calendar pulled up.
Olive: Hayes, when did you start wearing glasses?
I knew I shouldn’t torture myself. Sadly, that ship had sailed.
Hayes: idk, 3 years ago, maybe? Why?
Sliding up onto one of the bar stools, I took the first step down that slippery slope.
Olive: What kind of glasses?
Hayes: They’re just for reading.
Olive: No, I mean what do they look like? I needed a quick save. I’m just trying to picture you in glasses.
Hayes: Oh, well then…
The dots popped up and I knew what was coming next. I’d practically asked for it, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him to stop. When the picture came through, my chin connected with my chest. “Holy… Unnphf.”
Black Wayfarers with clear reading lenses framed his deep-set electric blue eyes. His hair wasn’t styled but combed back away from his face, with a blond piece slipping down next to the frames. A freshly trimmed beard that looked soft outlined his pink lips.
His chest was bare, the hair—a shade darker than what was on his head—had been neatly trimmed. A mound of muscled shoulder bunched thanks to the hand casually behind his head while the other palm held the phone aloft. And those pecs…Jesus. Solid and defined with little pink nipples. The lats with soft delineations between each rib. The triceps. The first row of a six-pack.
And that damn crooked, shit-eating grin that said he knew exactly what he was doing to me.
I slapped my forehead down on the back of the hand I’d rested on the island countertop. “Christ, why did I do that? That was stupid.” Hayes Walker was my very own wet dream come to life.
This had to stop. Now. I wiped the slobber from my chin.
Olive: Hmphf. They make you look like an old man.
Hayes: Uh, huh. Sure, they do.
Olive: I’ll email the dates.
Hayes: Wait, aren’t you supposed to send me a picture now? Isn’t that what the kids do these days?
I quick-snapped a photo of my middle finger flipping the bird and hit send.
Hayes: Ooh baby, you know exactly where I like the finger, don’t you, naughty girl? 😛
Olive: Goodnight, Hayes.
Hayes: Sweet dreams, Ollie. *wink wink*
Like I said, slippery slope.
Slipperier than my panties and that was saying something.”
Excerpt From Model Behavior, Tricia Lynne
This material protected by copyright, 2022.
MODEL BEHAVIOR by Tricia Lynne
The Unlovabulls #2
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
Romance Contemporary [Career Press, On Sale: February 15, 2022, e-Book, / eISBN: 9780369700131]
Buy MODEL BEHAVIOR: Kindle | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Tricia Lynne
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, and her Midwestern roots. She’s drawn to strong, flawed heroines, and believes writing isn’t a decision one makes, but a calling one can’t resist. Tricia is the creator of #KissPitch and co-founder of the All The Kissing blog for romance writers. She lives in Dallas with her husband and their goofy dogs.
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