Release Tour, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
StrangeLove by TL Bradford
The Young Americans, Book 3
Archer
The year began great for me.
Became the starting quarterback for an NFL team – check.
Secured a multi-million-dollar contract – check.
Moved to LA and lived the glamorous life – check.
What could possibly cause me any issues?
Oh yeah, one more thing. I’m gay.
I was outed a couple of years ago to my former team and my family, but it hasn’t been made public knowledge yet. Well, that is, until now. I’ll be known as the first LGBTQ+ active player in the league’s history. And if I stick to the conditions of my contract, it won’t be a problem. The thing is, I’m not really a guy known for playing by the rules.
Most people think of my personality as the three B’s: bold, brash, and blunt. My mouth has gotten me into more predicaments than I can count. Even my best friends have told me I’m stubborn as a mule and have the delicacy of a bull in a china shop. This presents a big problem for me because I have my eyes set on winning over the guy who stole my heart years ago, only he doesn’t know it yet.
Getting his attention is going to be challenging. It’s a good thing I’m tenacious.
Unfortunately, it’s not great timing and could get me into a whole mess of trouble.
Why does falling for a guy need to be anyone’s business but mine?
Kai
The past couple of years were a whirlwind of activity. My career took off after my guest shot appearance in Americana. I appeared in a few indie features and finally got a shot at my first major motion picture release. The work came as a great distraction from my personal life, which took a further nosedive after I found out the guy I was falling for had already fallen for someone else.
Why should I be surprised? He was another in a string of failed relationship attempts. I swore I wouldn’t get involved with anyone else, choosing to stay focused on my career instead. That is, until the force of nature known as Archer McMillan came storming into my life.
To be the pursued instead of the pursuer was not in the cards. To top it off, he’s everything I’m not. Yet, there’s something to be said for a guy who can make you laugh when it’s the last thing you want to be doing. I’ll admit he’s got a playful and determined spirit. Archer also has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I’ve ever known. Not the mention the cute way he… Hold on. What am I doing? We cannot be a thing. Nope. Not gonna happen. Ever. Right?
***
Follow Kai and Archer as they cross the lines as friends, partners-in-crime, and confidants, to discover a love beyond boundaries that needs no definition.
(StrangeLove is a funny, heartwarming, slow-burn love story. It contains a cast of fully developed characters that encounter romance, laughter, and life lessons. It contains adult language, mature themes, and is best enjoyed by those over the age of 18. It can be read as a standalone; however, if you would like to know the backstories of some characters, check out the prior books in the series.)
Universal Link
Amazon
Add on Goodreads
The Band Aid
What are the chances that this horrible scenario would play out for me? One fucking hundred percent.
As I lay sprawled across the Spanish tile floor of the bathroom, pants down, head busted, all I could do was laugh because honestly, what better way to break the ice with him?
Kai leans down and extends his hand to help me up from the ground. Be it chance or not, the poor guy meets the same fate as me, slipping on the tile and falling directly atop me.
This is the man who has occupied so many of my thoughts. Now he’s so close I can see the gold flecks in his light whiskey-colored eyes.
Time seems to stand still for an instant as our eyes make contact. My senses pick up everything about him in an instant. His scent, warm and spicy. His skin, soft. His muscular body, taut. The soft pink plumpness of his glistening lips. And the light from the window creating a rainbow prism on the wall from the small diamond stud earring he wears. Damn, I was right the first time I saw him. This man is the total package. The rainbow couldn’t be more fitting.
“Uh… Sorry guys. I heard a loud thump from the kitchen and went to check. You know what? I’ll just excuse myself,” Josh says from the hallway, taking off like a shot.
“Oh, shit,” I curse.
“Does he think we…?”
“I don’t know, but we need to clarify.”
Kai struggles to get up, planting his hands to either side of my torso, only to slip and fall back down again on my abdomen.
“It’s not as easy as it looks, eh?” I joke.
“Nope, it’s not.” Gripping the side of the tub, he’s finally able to pull himself up and off me. Not that I mind for one bit.
“It’s these damn low flow toilets they installed. Once I flushed, the thing kept running. How’s a guy supposed to take a proper shit in one of those things?”
My head is throbbing from banging my head on the side of the tub. When I pull my pants up and look in the mirror, I see a medium size cut on my temple.
He cringes. “Yuck, that’s a nasty cut. Here, hold this toilet paper to your head while I look for some antiseptic and a band-aid.”
Kai begins rustling through the drawers and cabinets until he finds what he’s looking for, a big plastic box filled to the brim with emergency medical items.
He pushes me down to sit on the toilet and rifles through the box, eventually choosing a tube of Neosporin and a snoopy band-aid.
He takes attention to dress my wound and tries to offer me an aspirin for any pain, which I quickly refuse.
“There you go. You’re all set.”
I look at myself in the mirror. “Snoopy? I think I need a more macho bandage than that.”
He rifles through the box again. “In that case, your only other options are either Fred Flintstone or Papa Smurf. Your choice.”
“That’s a tough decision, but I think I’ll take Papa Smurf.”
“Excellent choice.”
“Although personally I’ve always been more of a Scooby-Doo guy myself.”
“Is that right? I’d have to agree. Well, at least until they added Scrappy-Doo.”
“I concur. Death to Scrappy.”
A small smile lifts one side of Kai’s mouth.
Wait, did we just have a moment?
To celebrate TL Bradford new release, she is giving you the chance to win an e-sets of The Young Americans Series so far (3 eBooks)!
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
About the Author:
T.L. always hated math, so it was a good thing she had a way with words. Since she was a shy and quirky kid; words were her best friends. She would imagine entire worlds in her head and talk to herself endlessly. Her mother wondered if she was speaking with ghosts for a while.
Her older sister was a voracious reader of trashy romance novels and would pass them down to her after she had finished them. T.L. was the only 10-year-old kid sitting in class reading “The Stud” by Jackie Collins during reading time. Oddly enough, she never got called out on it.
As she grew older, her tastes evolved, but one thing held fast; her undying attachment to love stories. One day out of the blue, she decided to write the love stories she always wanted to read instead of searching for her story. Since then, writing has been a dream fulfilled for her and she could not be happier.
She enjoys writing about love, regardless of gender and is a proud supporter of the LGBTQ community.
T.L. calls the Pacific Northwest her home and enjoys the quiet rural life of her little oceanside home with her playful/crazy husband and their giant dog Noah.
Catch up with T.L.:
Instagram – @tlbradfordauthor
Twitter – @tbradfordauthor
