We’re so pleased to have author Jaime Samms joining us today on the tour for her latest Riptide Publishing release, Three Player Game. Jaime’s written a short scene exclusively for this stop on the tour, so enjoy and also be sure to check out the prompt question you can answer to enter to win some great prizes.

Welcome, Jaime!

To round out the blog tour, I’ve written a short scene for you. An Intro, if you will, to the changes about to take place in Lee’s life. Enjoy!

“You have to decide the path you want to take, Mr. Bradshaw.” Oscar Caruthers tipped the tumbler he held. The tinkle of ice on crystal sank into the thick carpeting as he took a sip of the amber liquid.

“I just think—”

“Is that what I pay you for?”

The ache in Lee’s jaw sharpened as his molars ground together.

Oscar tilted his head to one side. “Because I wasn’t aware your pay grade was that high.” He lifted a piercing gaze to Lee. “I pay you to do as your told. Now, I’m telling you I need you in Bluewater Bay. Whatever my son’s strengths, towing the company line is not necessarily one of them.”

“And you want me to keep an eye on him.” Lee’s chest tightened. He’d taken this job knowing there would be compromises.

“You’ll have an open line of communication back to me.”

“That’s spying.”

Oscar regarded him, unblinking.

“You want me to spy on your son.”

“Someone has to keep the boy in line.”

“He’s thirty—”

The sharp narrowing of Oscar’s steely-blue eyes stopped the words in Lee’s mouth and he clacked his teeth together.

Peeling his top lip back, Oscar once more contemplated his drink, spinning the glass so the ice tinkled merrily. “My son needs corralling. You need the experience.”

“I don’t have the kind of money to relocate.” It was a pathetic excuse and Lee knew it. He shouldn’t care about the Caruthers’ clan dysfunction. He was an accountant, and a damn good one, and so what if Caruthers senior wanted a report once in a while. Blaire did still work for his father, after all, and he had fucked up royally. This wasn’t that big a deal.

“You can talk to Anne on your way out. She’ll set you up.”

“But I have no place to live.”

Oscar grinned at him, rounded his desk and rooted in one of the small top drawers. He pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to Lee.

Making a grab for them as they hit his chest, Lee almost dropped the laptop bag hanging from his shoulder. He juggled keys and bag and frowned.

“Address is on the tag,” Oscar said, turning his back to look out the window behind his desk. “It’s furnished. You’ll like it. High end and yours as long as this arrangement is working.” He fixed Lee with a stern glare. “Cross me, and you will be out. I promise you that.”

Lee nodded. “Thank you.” He choked the words out, their taste bitter.

“Talk to Anne. She’ll sort you out. I want your first report at the end of next week. Oh.” He turned back to the drawer and pulled out a cell phone, which he also tossed. Lee almost didn’t catch it. “Use that. Get a charger from Anne.”

“I…” Lee sighed. What was the use? He’d made this bed. He shouldn’t be surprised the man making him sleep in it didn’t give a fuck about if Lee wanted what was happening. “Thank you, Sir.” The words grated like sandpaper up his throat.

Oscar waved his near-empty glass over his shoulder, saying nothing. Lee had been dismissed.

 

Had it been…what? A year? Lee had lost track and at the moment, didn’t feel like figuring it out. He gazed from the threshold of his tiny, empty apartment. How long had he lived in Bluewater Bay now? Did it matter? He’d been working for Blaire, both of them out from under Oscar’s thumb at last, for months, now. This was a good thing. So what if the rest of his life had dried up like an old prune.

The weekend stretched out, long and just as empty as the rooms before him. All he’d done since moving out of furnished luxury at the end of Oscar’s boot, and into this dump, was order furniture he hadn’t set up, pull a few boxes out of storage he hadn’t yet unpacked, and have a handyman assemble a closet in the spare bedroom.

He could put his bed together. He could fetch more boxes or buy shelves for the living room. Or a couch, for that matter.

“Fuck it.” He dug out his cell phone and glanced at the screen. He could shower, change, and call up Seth and Andre, go in to Port Angeles with them. They’d be half plastered by now. High on something by the time he met up with them. Last time, they had been so high they’d forgotten he was even with them.

He slid the phone back into his breast pocket and let his computer slip off his shoulder, leaning it against the wall near the door. He’d work. Like always. At least the numbers never let him down, always did what he told them to.

He’d go dancing tomorrow night. Maybe.

As he contemplated the task of getting to his walk-in closet and out of his suit, his pocket buzzed. Pulling the phone out, he answered without looking at the call display.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, Lee. It’s Vince.”

“What do you want?”

Vince snorted. “Charming. But not what I want. What Blaire wants.”

“It’s the weekend.”

“Well, we have a bite from one of the investors from that first party, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah. So what does that have to do with me?”

“She wants to meet with all three of us.”

“And?”

“And.” Lee could hear Vince gathering his patience. It came through in the deliberate pull of his breath and the exaggerated calm of his voice. “I’m looking at a plane reservation to Vancouver for tomorrow noon.”

“She wants to meet over the weekend?”

“We can get in, get settled in the hotel tomorrow, strategize Sunday morning, and she wants to take us to dinner Sunday night. If all goes well, she’ll introduce us to some mucky-mucks on Monday.”

Suddenly, Lee’s weekend looked a little less desolate. So what if he was only going on a business meeting with work colleagues. It was better than alone with his computer, or alone out with his so-called friends.

“Fine,” he grunted.

“Fine.” Vince sounded considerably more cheerful. “We’ll pick you up eight sharp.”

Lee offered another, mono-syllabic grunt.

“Cheer up. I got a good feeling about this. It’s the start of something important. I know it.”

“Sure it is.”

Vince hung up on a chuckle and Lee gazed at the phone for a second. “Just another business meeting, kid,” he muttered. But his stomach fluttered at the thought of the weekend away from this dismal place, Vince for company. It was something, at least. Something different.

About the Book

Vince’s life has improved immeasurably since he moved to Bluewater Bay two years ago. He’s gone from working for a man he hated, to helping found a company he believes in. And he and his boyfriend, Pete, have built a delicate balance of power between them that keeps them both grounded and thriving.

Almost, anyway.

Pete’s job on the set of Wolf’s Landing is demanding. He needs lots of downtime off set, and that’s where Vince’s firm but gentle control isn’t always enough. And for Vince, Pete’s constant high-energy needs are turning out to be more than he can handle alone.

It’s no surprise to either of them, then, that sparks fly when Vince’s coworker Lee enters the picture. Outwardly, Lee is tough and confident, but when a bad back confines him to Pete and Vince’s spare room, the cracks start to show and his desire for connection begins to peek through.

Pete and Vince both like what they see under Lee’s prickly outside, but now the three men must learn that love isn’t about beating the game—it’s about balance, trust, and letting each other in.

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About Bluewater Bay

Welcome to Bluewater Bay! This quiet little logging town on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula has been stagnating for decades, on the verge of ghost town status. Until a television crew moves in to film Wolf’s Landing, a soon-to-be cult hit based on the wildly successful shifter novels penned by local author Hunter Easton.

Wolf’s Landing’s success spawns everything from merchandise to movie talks, and Bluewater Bay explodes into a mecca for fans and tourists alike. The locals still aren’t quite sure what to make of all this—the town is rejuvenated, but at what cost? And the Hollywood-based production crew is out of their element in this small, mossy seaside locale. Needless to say, sparks fly.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by eleven award-winning, best-selling LGBTQ romance authors: L.A. Witt, L.B. Gregg, Z.A. Maxfield,  Heidi Belleau, Rachel Haimowitz, Anne Tenino, Amy Lane, SE Jakes, G.B. Gordon, Jaime Samms and Ally Blue. Each contemporary novel stands alone, but all are built around the town and the people of Bluewater Bay and the Wolf’s Landing media empire.

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About the Author

Jaime has been writing for various publishers since the fall of 2008, although she’s been writing for herself far longer. Her Stories about men falling in love are the stories that she loves to read, so it seemed to make sense if she was going to write, they would also be the stories she wrote.

These days, you can find plenty of free reading on her website. She also writes for Various Publishers.

Spare time, when it can be found rolled into a ball at the back of the dryer or cavorting with the dust bunnies in the corners, is spent crocheting, drawing, gardening (weather permitting, of course, since she is Canadian!), or watching movies. She has a day job, as well, which she loves, and two kids, but thankfully, also a wonderful husband who shoulders more than his fair share of household and child-care responsibilities.

She graduated some time ago from college with a fine arts diploma, and a major in textile arts, which basically qualifies her to draw pictures and create things with string and fabric. One always needs an official slip of paper to fall back on after all . . .

Find Jaime: Website || facebook || Livejournal || Deviantart || Twitter || Amazon Author Page

The Giveaway

Have you ever had that defining moment where you knew—or you can look back and see—everything changed for the better? Comment* with a story about it below, and we’ll enter you to win a copy of my first Bluewater Bay book, How the Cookie Crumbles, as well as a $10.00 Riptide gift certificate.

*Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on August 19, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!