The final installment for the Male Model Chronicles series released today.
Book details:
Title: Joshua
Series: Male Model Chronicles #3
Genre: contemporary romance with light suspense elements (m/f)
Word Count: 56,000 words
Release date: November 18, 2016
Story Overview:
December is the time for romance, twinkling lights, and roaring fires in the fireplace. It’s also time for the annual Holiday Fantasy Lingerie show. This year, the show has a masculine twist with the introduction of male models who were once soldiers.
Joshua Scott Brown has made quite a name for himself as a male fitness model since he got out of the Air Force. But nothing prepares him for the media circus that occurs after he catches one of the female lingerie models during the live show, preventing her from a ten-foot fall. Now the lingerie company wants to turn that media coverage into holiday profit by pairing him up romantically with the model. Unfortunately, he only has eyes for Autumn Layne, the publicist who keeps pushing him into another woman’s arms.
The final book in the series of novels inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models.
The Male Model Chronicles.
He was one lucky bastard.
As Joshua Scott
Brown walked into the dressing room area behind the stage, he tried not to look
as overwhelmed as he felt. Jesus. There were half naked, gorgeous women
everywhere.
Half-dressed
models...check.
Utter
chaos...check.
Anyone who looked
like they were in charge...negative.
Joshua had no
idea where he needed to be for this rehearsal, and he didn’t see any of the
other guys, either. His instructions had been to report backstage. This was
backstage, but there didn’t appear to be anyone in control of the chaos.
He glanced down
at his phone to see if there was any other information in the email to help.
Nada.
A man rushed by
him with a rack of tiny garments flying behind him. Women chattered and
hollered at one another across the big, open space. Makeup and hair techs
appeared harried as they tried to get the models to sit or stand still at each
of the makeup tables set randomly throughout the space. There were no screens
or privacy of any sort as the models changed and were fitted.
Okay, time for
plan B. One of these models had to know where he was supposed to go. He
approached one who smiled and was holding an animated conversation with the
fitter standing beside her. She whipped off her bra, and he froze.
Oh, good God.
Those were
nipples.
Right there.
Not that he had a
problem with nipples as a general rule. But shit, give a guy some warning. He
veered to the right and searched faces for anyone who might be helpful, making
sure to keep his eyes at shoulder level or above.
There in the
corner, a girl gave him a shy smile as someone screwed around with her hair.
Finally, a friendly face. But as he got closer…wow. Underneath all that makeup, this girl couldn’t
be more than fourteen or fifteen. Was it legal to have her parading around in
underwear? Wasn’t she too young to even have breasts?
And how pathetic
that she was the only one who noticed him.
Suck it up, Joshua.
He was starting
to sound like one of the high school kids on his football team.
“Hey, sorry to
bother you,” he said to the young girl. “But do you have any idea where I’m
supposed to go?”
She stared at
him, her smile wavering a little bit as she shrugged. “No English.” Her accent
was thick, something European maybe. It was hard to tell.
The male
hairdresser rolled his eyes but then cast a long, interest-filled gaze across Joshua’s
bare chest. Suddenly, Joshua felt the need to wrap his arms around his naked
skin.
The hairdresser
smirked as if he could read Joshua’s mind but then gave him a disapproving headshake.
“You won’t get anywhere with this one, dude. She’s underage and has a momma
bear hovering. You’re just lucky right now that momma is off in search of
coffee, so you might want to scamper away before you get clawed.”
“No, no, no. I’m
not trying to hit on her.” Jesus. “I
just don’t know where to go.”
“Who are you?”
The hairdresser looked him up and down again like he was trying to decide if
Joshua was something he’d scraped off the bottom of his shoe or something he
wanted to lick like a lollipop.
“My name is
Joshua Scott Brown. I’m supposed to walk the runway with the models as an
escort.”
“Oh yeah...one of
the military dudes, right?”
Joshua nodded.
“You need to find
Autumn Layne. She’s handling the military guys, but good luck with that.” He
scanned the room full of Amazons. “She never, ever stays in one place, and it’s
utter chaos back here today. Maybe try back by the makeup area.” He waved a
hand toward the opposite corner of the room.
Joshua headed in
what felt like the right direction, but who the fuck knew? This place needed
signs hanging from the ceiling like a grocery store. Makeup here. Bras here.
Panties here. Clueless dudes here. Never had he ever thought he would feel so
uncomfortable seeing so many scantily clad, female bodies. What had he gotten
himself into here?
When Shauna Kruse
had called him to let him know that one of her contacts in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area needed models with military backgrounds for the Holiday Fantasy Lingerie
Show put on by Pandora’s Fantasy, he had jumped at the opportunity. Hell, this
was every guy’s wet dream, but the
reality of it overwhelmed him. While it was a huge opportunity...damn, there
was a lot of naked skin back here. They’d
told him to arrive in jeans and combat boots only, and he felt overdressed.
A small, middle-aged,
balding, be-speckled man wearing a headset rushed up to him and grabbed his
arm. “Joshua?” he asked with a squint.
Joshua nodded.
The little man
turned, pulling Joshua behind him like a recalcitrant child. “I found him,” he
said into the tiny microphone at his mouth. “We’re headed your way. Start
putting them into their pairings. He’ll be there in fifteen seconds.”
“Sorry...” Joshua
began to apologize for getting lost, even if he really had no idea how he was
supposed to know where to go. They entered through a hidden doorway, and the
man shushed him.
Around twenty men
dressed the same as him—no shirt, well-worn jeans, and combat boots—surrounded
a redheaded woman. She stood above the group, so she must have been standing on
some sort of pedestal. Black-framed glasses perched on her nose, and she wore a
headset like the man who’d brought him in. Her deep, dusky voice rang out over
the guys who stood quietly, listening to her.
Her skin appeared
translucent because it was so pale, but that probably had something to do with
the vibrant red of her hair. Shoulder length and choppy, the shockingly bright
color couldn’t be natural. Her lips were dusty pale pink and completely natural
with maybe just a hint of some sort of lip-gloss. As he watched her speak, the
tip of her tongue caressed the front of her white teeth...teasing him. He had
to hold in a groan.
For the first
time today, Joshua had an issue with an erection, something that made no sense
after the gauntlet of sexy, half-dressed models he’d just walked through. Wow,
she was fantastic. Did she have a boyfriend, or would she be open for
applicants? He pondered the idea and liked it. A lot.
But she was
talking, and it was probably information he needed. Maybe he should pay attention.
***
Autumn Layne
stood within inches of twenty of the most perfect, masculine chests known to
creation and tried to remember her job. It probably wasn’t to reach out and
touch, and she had to ball her hand into a fist to keep from doing exactly
that. She glanced down at her iPad. Assignments. Right.
She cleared her
throat and fidgeted on top of the box someone had placed there so the escorts
could all see her. At five foot eight, she wasn’t exactly short, but not a
single one of these guys was less than six foot tall—a requirement for them to
have even gotten the job in the first place so they didn’t look dwarfed by the
statuesque lingerie models—and most of them were several inches taller than
that.
“Okay, guys,” she
hollered.This is the moment you’ve been waiting
for. I have your model assignments right here.” She shook a bag that held the
specially made dog tags before reaching in and removing one. “First up, we have
Monique.”
Referring to her
assignments list, she located the name of the guy partnered with her.
“Where’s....” She squinted at her iPad. Could that be someone’s real name?
“Where’s Bodie?”
She looked up to
find a blond, surfer dude rushing over to her, overjoyed with his assignment.
“I got Monique?”
he gasped in surprise, his wide grin showing off deep dimples. “Dude, that’s so
righteous.” He reached forward and snatched the tags out of her hand and then
began to exchange high fives with the guys around him.
Autumn raised an
eyebrow. Had they pulled this guy straight out of a cheesy eighties surfer
movie? He hadn’t even been alive then. One of the themes for the Lingerie Extravaganza
was beach party, so she was pretty sure he’d been hired specifically for that
set. But he still had to function and get through the other three themes. It
would be interesting to see how the director harnessed him in those.
But that was not
the part of the show she had to worry about. Thank God.
She pulled
another tag. “Bianca.” This model was listed right at the top, so her list
search didn’t take long. “Joshua, come on up.”
This guy had been
standing in the back, so it took a moment for him to work through the bodies.
She started sorting through the next assignment when he got to her. Without
looking up, she thrust the dog tag toward him, ready to call out her next set
of names.
But instead of
taking the tag, he grabbed hold of her hand. Tingles rushed up her arm, and she
glanced up in alarm to meet the most gorgeous, chocolate-brown eyes. Rich.
Decadent. She suddenly felt like she’d been dipped into the most luscious,
sinful, melted pool of dark chocolate. Her breath caught.
“You know I already
have a set of these, right?” His voice sounded deep, hypnotic, but what he said
didn’t make any sense.
“Wh...what?” She
took a deep breath and tried to regain control here. Her heart rate kicked up.
Good grief. Was
she having a heart attack? Why was her arm continuing to tingle where he held
her?
“The dog tags,”
he said with a wink and a nod at the metal clasped in both their hands. “I can
wear my own.”
“Oh, yeah. No.”
She shook her head, both to reiterate her point and to get her brain to
function again. “These were made especially for the show.”
He examined the
engraving and scowled for a moment before looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
She winced
internally. Yeah, that wouldn’t go over so well with some guys. Each dog tag
was specially made for its model. For Joshua, that meant his said, Property of Bianca.
“Listen,” she leaned
into him. “There’s a reason for it. A lot of people record the live broadcast
of the show. From what I understand, the real dog tags have personal
information on them that someone could zoom in on and see. We’re doing this to
protect you. Besides, have you seen Bianca? Most guys would be thrilled to wear
something that said they belonged to her. Don’t make too big a thing of this.”
“Right,” he said
slowly and then finally let go of her hand.
She felt the loss
immediately, but the tingles subsided so that was a good thing, right? At least
she wasn’t in imminent danger of keeling over dead in the middle of all these
gorgeous men. Talk about an embarrassing epitaph. Death by testosterone.
She shook off the
disconcerting exchange and refocused on her job...getting all the military guys
assigned to their models so they could go through the afternoon run-through of
the show. They only had two more days before the live show, and that wasn’t
much time to get these guys up to speed. Everything had to go perfectly for
this show. Madeline had put her in charge and she counted on her for the
company. If Autumn managed to pull this off, maybe Madeline would take
promoting her seriously.
***
Joshua followed
yet another intern down a dark, cluttered hallway filled with miscellaneous
props as she led him to his model, Bianca. They’d spent the last hour listening
to the drone of how this would work for the next two days.
He glared down at
the dog tags on his chest. He wondered if they came with a leash, too. Never
had he felt they fit their name more than they did at this little dog and pony
show. What he had been thinking by accepting this gig? He could be in the field
house right now, shooting the shit with the guys while they focused on their
off-season weight training.
He took a deep
breath. Most guys would kill to be in his place working with supermodels for
the next two days. It was a once in a lifetime chance. He just needed to relax
and try to enjoy the experience. What was it they said? Don’t sweat the small
stuff. The dog tags hanging on his chest were definitely one of the little
things he should just let roll off his back.
They came to a
door, and Joshua tilted his head. He hadn’t really been paying that close of
attention, but he thought all the models were out in the huge bowl of chaos
that he’d already traipsed through a couple of times. But this door said Bianca Phillips on the outside of it. He
wondered how she garnered her own private dressing room.
The intern
knocked.
“Come in,” floated
through the door.
The intern opened
it, and Joshua looked inside.
Oh, hell. Now he
understood. Standing before him was her.
He may not have known her name, but hot damn, he knew that face and body...and
had jacked off to her image more than a few times.
Heat suffused his
face. Hell, every single straight guy in America had probably done the same.
She’d been on the swimsuit cover four years, and she was the face of Pandora’s
Fantasy. She was the reason most guys bought the expensive lingerie. They
wanted their girls to look just like her in those tiny little scraps of lace.
Right now, her
long black hair cascaded down the back of her short, silky robe in the
signature lavender color of Pandora’s Fantasy. He met those crystal blue, clear
eyes in the mirror, and she smiled at him. But she was talking to someone else in
the room and nodding, so he didn’t interrupt. It wasn’t every day a guy got to
meet his walking fantasy. He was okay with just looking.
But then the
other person in the room brushed by him with a whispered, “You’re drooling.”
Then she snorted.
His gaze swung
and he met the vibrant, humor-filled, turquoise blue eyes of Autumn Layne.
Damn, how had he missed she was the other person in the room? He’d wanted to
ask her out, but even he knew it was bad form to be caught ogling another girl,
even if that other girl was a supermodel.
Autumn winked and
left the room.
“Wait,” he called
and followed her. He had to give it a try.
Autumn turned and
tilted her head. The light caught the mischief in her bright eyes. “Yes?”
“Can I get your
number?”
“Seriously?” She
waved a hand at the open door. “I just saw the way you were looking at her.
This is your chance. Don’t shoot so far below your abilities.” Her gaze dropped
to his chest. “You’d make a beautiful couple,” she said with a tiny frown,
before turning and rushing off down the hall. “Be backstage in twenty minutes,”
she called out to him.
Joshua shut his
eyes. He’d really blown that, hadn’t he?
“I think you need
to up your game,” said a husky, friendly voice from behind him.
He turned, and
Bianca stood leaning against the doorframe, smirking at him.
He rubbed a hand
across his face. “Well, this is humiliating. Can we start over? Hi, I’m
Joshua.” He stepped forward and offered his hand to shake.
She smiled.
“Bianca, but no need to start over with me. It’s her you have to worry about,
especially if you want a date. I’m assuming you’re my military guy?” At his
nod, she stepped back from the doorway and waved her hand at him. “Come on in,
and we can talk. We still have a few minutes before we have to head backstage.”
He entered the
dressing room again, and this time, he focused on something more than the
gorgeous model standing there. The sleek, modern room held a low-slung, grey
wool couch, a Lucite makeup table, mirror, and chair, and a bright orange club
chair. Small mahogany tables sat at each end of the couch, with a couple of
paperbacks piled on them. The walls
featured vintage movie posters from the forties and fifties. It was much nicer
than Joshua would have ever expected.
“I like this,” he
said.
“Thanks. It’s
nice to have a place to get away from the noise out there. It’s one of the
perks of being with Pandora from the beginning, back when she worked out of the
studio in her family garage.”
“I didn’t realize
that. You’re friends with Pandora? The
Pandora?”
Bianca chuckled. “Yes,
we grew up together in Houston. When she moved the business to Dallas, I came
with her.”
“I had no idea.”
She shrugged. “It’s
not that big a deal. I’m more interested in you. Military...current or former?”
“Former. I got
out of the Air Force three years ago. Now I’m a high school football conditioning
coach at Pemberton High.” He rubbed along the back of his neck. “And I also do
the modeling sometimes.”
“Nice,” she said.
“Have you ever done runway work before?”
“No, this is a
first for me.”
“Awesome.” Her
smile looked way too wide at this news. But then she raised both her eyebrows
the way girls did when they looked at newborn babies...all soft and dewy-eyed. “I
have a virgin. So sweet,” she cooed in a false, high-pitched voice.
He choked on his
breath.
“Don’t worry,
Joshua.” She thumped him on the back. “I’ll be gentle with you.”
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