A warm welcome to author Christina Tomlinson joining us today here at Love Bytes to talk about her newest release “Showing Him the Ropes”.
Christina has brought with her a special treat, a deleted scene !
she also shares an excerpt and their is a giveaway to participate in.
Welcome Christina 🙂
Hi everyone! I’m Christa Tomlinson and this is a deleted scene from Showing Him the Ropes. I removed it because I had other scenes that both showed the attraction between Devin and Chance and moved the story along faster than this one. But I was sad to see it go because Devin is being a little show off here. His relentless and unashamed flirting made me laugh as I was writing and so did his urge to show off skills at the drop of a hat.
*****
Devin pumped his fist in the air before he did a standing back tuck. The crowd cheered, a few of them chanting his name. He’d just gotten a win over Chance with a lucky roll up pin. He’d celebrated in shocked surprise, while Chance had looked at him with an expression promising revenge. The crowd had been behind him 100% from the moment the match started all the way up to the final bell. His name was getting out there in social media, with people mentioning the matches he was having with The Chancellor, and others sharing his stuff from the indies. He slipped out of the ring, waving a few more times to the crowd as he made his way backstage. Once he was behind the curtain, he did a quick visual check with Alex and Rongo. They both gave him their approval; Alex with a thumbs up and Rongo with a nod. Then he went over to Chance for the feedback he was most looking forward to hearing.
“How was that?”
“Much better. You could still stand to slow down a bit before some of your spots. Make the crowd wait for it instead of throwing it all out there before they can absorb it.”
Devin grabbed a towel to wipe some of the sweat off his face. “So you’re talking about a slow build again.”
“Yes.”
“I tend to like things fast and rough, but I guess I can pull that off.”
Chance looked at him after his comment. His expression was serious, but his gray-blue eyes were … not. “I know what I’m talking about. A slow build is best.”
Devin stood there, a smile spreading across his face. The other night Chance had said he didn’t mess around with anyone on the roster. Yet, he continued to let little reactions “Teacher knows best,” he said to himself.
The next day a group of them were at a local gym, getting in a work out before they had to report to the arena. Being in a different city every day meant that they never knew where they’d be working out. This little fitness center was a gem. Lots of space, clean and a good range of weights. Chance was currently on the bench press machine with Pollux as his spotter. The outcomes of their sport might be predetermined, but they still needed to be strong and in shape. No one wanted to see an out of shape guy sweating his way across the ring dressed in what might as well be his underwear and a pair of boots. More importantly, he had to be strong in order to make sure he protected both himself and his partner as they carried out their moves. Regardless of all that, he just liked working out. He always had. The burn in his muscles as he pushed himself gave him a sense of accomplishment. Chance pressed the heavy weights up again. He was nearing the end of this set of reps, and that muscle burn was making itself known.
“Come on Chancellor. Two more reps. You can do it.”
Blowing out a breath, he pushed up again. Pollux was a good spotter. Calm and focused, he knew when to encourage and when to be quiet and let a guy work. Chance pressed out the last rep, Pollux helping him guide the bar back onto its handles. He took a moment to suck in a deep breath then sat up.
“Thanks.” He went to grab the spray bottle of cleaner and a paper towel. “I’m all done here,” he said to Pollux as he wiped down the bench. “You want me to spot you?”
“S alright. It’s leg day for me.”
Chance said thanks one more time before Pollux went off to the leg press. He moved over to the row machine. From this new spot, he could see Devin across the room doing chin ups. Chance watched him as he rowed. Devin executed his chin ups with perfect form; back straight, legs bent at the knees and crossed at the ankles. He kept his arms close to his body and Chance watched as the muscles in his biceps bunched and flexed as he went up and down. He lowered his gaze to take in the hard ridges of Devin’s abs, then further down, lingering on the sharp definition. For just a moment, an image flashed in his brain of his thumbs settled into those hip dents as he pulled Devin in close. He dragged his gaze back up the hard length of Devin’s torso, but when he looked at his face he saw those golden eyes staring right back at him. Clenching his jaw, Chance jerked the handle of the row machine back hard. He’d just told the kid he wasn’t interested. Now he’d been caught checking him out. What the fuck was wrong with him? Devin dropped from the bar and Chance knew he was about to come over to him. *Haha, Chance! Busted! Just admit you think Devin is hot, sheesh.
“You’re pretty strong,” Devin said as he noticed the setting on the machine.
“I have to be if I’m gonna throw little runts like you around the ring.”
Devin laughed. “You’ll have to catch me first. And I’m six feet tall. I’m not a runt.” *I actually managed to sneak this line and Chance’s just above into scene in the book. I was glad, since I knew Devin wouldn’t appreciate being called a runt, no matter how funny it was.
Chance tightened his grip on the handles and kept rowing. He pulled back in a slow, steady motion, keeping control as he returned to the starting position. “Are you planning to work out, or are you just going to stand around wasting your time?”
“Just because I’m not pulling one billion pounds of weight, doesn’t mean I’m wasting time.”
Chance continued to work as he watched Devin drop down into a squat. He placed his hands flat on the floor, lifting his lower body until his feet were off the ground, then he slowly straightened his legs until they were parallel to the floor. He held the pose for a moment, his eyes locked on Chance’s. Then he raised his legs up straight until he was in a hand stand. He balanced there, his body in a straight line. Then, he slowly took one hand off the floor and lowered his legs until they were in a V. He lifted his head and stuck his tongue out at Chance. He tucked into a front roll, landed on his feet and stood up. *Teasing little show off! =)
“Bet you and all your muscles can’t do that,” he taunted.
Chance kept rowing. “Nope. I’d fall over in a big, muscled heap.”
Devin laughed again and came to stand next to him. “I could teach you if you want.”
“No thanks. I prefer to keep my feet on the floor as much as possible.”
“That must make for some interesting sex positions.”
“What?”
“If you always want your feet on the floor, you’re pretty limited in how you can have sex. Unless you’ve come up with some innovative new moves I’ve never heard of.” He paused for a moment. “I teach you my moves and you teach me yours?” *sigh. Of course Devin couldn’t pass up a shot at flirting with Chance.
That got Chance to stop rowing. “I thought I told you to cut it out.”
“You said it’s rarely a good idea to hook up with someone on the roster. Doesn’t mean it can’t work sometimes.” He shrugged. “And I don’t know, sometimes I get the idea that you’d be into finding out if we’d be the exception to that rule.” He came even closer, so close that their legs brushed together.
“Are you out of your mind? Back up before someone takes a picture and it winds up all over Twitter and the dirt sheets.”
Devin took a step back. “If we weren’t in public would you want me to back away?”
Chance didn’t have an answer for that. He didn’t want to encourage the kid, but he didn’t want to lie either. So he kept his mouth shut. And he watched as one corner of Devin’s mouth curled in a small grin before he finally walked off. *Oooooh, Chance! You’re not slick. We know you want Devin. 😉
*****
So that’s my deleted scene from Showing Him the Ropes! I think this scene does a good job of showing Chance and Devin’s personalities and the relationship between them. I hope you liked it, and I hope you’ll check out their full story.
Thank you!
Christa Tomlinson
Title: Showing Him the Ropes
Author: Christa Tomlinson
Series Title and Number: Champions of Desire #1
Publisher: Self Published
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Release Date: August 16, 2016
Length: appx 180 p
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Synopsis
Chance “The Chancellor” Gerhardt is a mainstay for Frontier Professional Wrestling. He’s won multiple championships and has the respect of the locker room. But after ten years at the top, Chance is looking for a new challenge. The one he gets, mentoring FPW’s young rookie, is both unexpected and unwanted.
Devin Jacobs is a hot new talent signed by Frontier Professional Wrestling. He’s always been a fan of The Chancellor, and not just because of the older man’s skill in the ring. He has it bad for the steely eyed veteran wrestler. Unfortunately for Devin, The Chancellor doesn’t believe in mixing business with pleasure, and isn’t looking to get involved with anyone. Or is he? During long nights traveling and working together, Devin catches more than one secretly admiring glance from The Chancellor…
Devin is determined to earn victories and championships in the ring. But he’d also love the opportunity to win Chance’s heart. Can the two of them navigate their way through the hyper masculinity and backstage politics of professional wrestling to the most important victory of all? Or will their shot at love be defeated 1-2-3?
Christa Tomlinson is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling. When she’s not writing, Christa can be found watching her favorite classic matches or traveling to live wrestling events.
Devin changed the subject again. “So are you married?
“Hell no.”
“Are you seeing anybody?”
“No.”
“Mess around with the ring rats then?”
Chance laughed. “Not even close.”
Devin thought that was an interesting answer. “So do you not hook up with any chicks? Should your gimmick be The Monk instead of The Chancellor?”
“I’m not a damn monk.”
“So then who-.”
Chance cut him off. “This conversation is done.”
Devin sat there quiet for a moment. Chance sounded just like him when he’d been trying to squirm out of admitting he was gay. And it made him wonder. Could The Chancellor be gay as well? “I don’t hook up with any of the groupies either.”
“So?”
“I’m just saying, while we’re traveling together, you won’t have to worry about me bringing any girls up to our hotel room.”
Chance snorted and flicked on the right blinker to get over and exit the freeway. “Trust me, you wouldn’t. Because I wouldn’t allow it.”
Devin laughed as they drove down the exit ramp. “Is that right? What would you do if I did, spank me?” They’d come to idle at a stop light, so Chance turned and looked at him. His face was half in shadow, but Devin saw him run his eyes over him. And his heart started to pound. He knew that look. He’d seen that look plenty of times before – from guys who were interested in him. Seeing it from The Chancellor was the last thing he’d expected. But before he could decide what to say, or if he even should say anything, the light turned green. Chance turned back around to proceed through the intersection…
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Christa Tomlinson is an exciting up and coming author in erotic romance. Her first self-published novel, The Sergeant, was an Amazon Best Seller for Gay and Lesbian Erotica for seven weeks straight.
Although Christa graduated from The University of Missouri-St. Louis with a degree in History, she currently prefers to write contemporary romance. She loves to create stories that are emotional and lovely with sex that is integral to the characters’ romantic arc. Her books include straight couples, curvy couples, gay, and multicultural couples. Love is love and everyone should have their story told.
Christa lives in Houston, Texas with her two dogs, and is a retired roller derby player.
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Rafflecopter Prize: Three lucky winners will each receive a signed paper back copy and cover art posters of Showing Him the Ropes.
