Today I am so pleased to welcome Layla Reyne to Joyfully Jay. Layla has come to talk to us about her latest release, Dead Draw.  Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Excerpt

In Dead Draw, the first book of the all-new Perfect Play m/m romantic suspense trilogy, an FBI cyber legal attaché and FBI field agent enter into a marriage of convenience to catch a common enemy. Special Agent Emmitt Marshall—“Marsh,” our cowboy hacker agent—seems to be the one doing the rescuing at first, offering Special Agent Levi Bishop the money he needs to stay afloat in exchange for staying close to the case—but Levi has something to offer the lonely cyber agent too. Read on for an excerpt!

Excerpt

A canyon stretched out below them—trails, trees, brush, and running water somewhere in the distance. It extended at least a football field across before another ridge began to climb, houses atop it too. A breeze snaked in from the west, the ocean out there somewhere behind the hills, a coyote’s yips carried on the wind. “This view would sell anyone.”

“Commute to the office isn’t bad either,” Levi added.

“This reminds me of the ranch back home.”

“The canyon and coyotes?”

“No, your place. It’s lived in. It’s a home.

“When’s the last time you had one?”

Marsh’s clipped laugh scraped over shards of loneliness, coming out rougher than intended, more honest than usual. “Maybe Camp Casey. If you count officers’ quarters as a home.”

Levi’s voice was the opposite of rough; it was too smooth for his own good. “Then pretend for a little while.”

“Levi—”

“I saw you with Brax today.” Surprised by the non sequitur, Marsh whipped his gaze Levi’s direction, momentarily blinded by the horizon, then by the too tempting man who stepped closer. “I saw how the layer of tension you hide under your hat fell away. You were at ease with him. You were home. The way you talk about him, I’m guessing it’s the same with Sean?”

“You’re too perceptive.”

“There’s a badge in my back pocket if you want to see it.” He grinned, crooked and adorable, then eased back into dangerous earnestness. “You’re helping me out with my case.”

“You’re helping me with mine.”

“Do you want to know why David was okay with this?” He didn’t give Marsh time to reply, to catch up to Levi speeding around curves. “So they wouldn’t repo his mother’s car.”

And careening off the cliff.

Without thinking, Marsh lifted a hand to Levi’s cheek, the need to comfort this man who had been through too much, who was too good for the pain that had been heaped on him, impossible to resist. “Baby.”

Levi leaned into the touch, and when he spoke again, his voice was lower, smooth in the best dessert you’ve ever tasted way. “You’re doing more than helping me solve a case. This can’t be one-sided. That’s not fair.” He laid a hand over Marsh’s, pressing it closer, and the prickle of stubble against Marsh’s palm fired all his senses, a bolt of electric heat straight to his chest. “Let me help you too. Let this be home for you for a little while.”

Read more of Marsh & Levi’s story in Dead Draw, out now in print, audio, and e-book, available at your favorite e-tailer: https://www.books2read.com/PerfectPlay1

Blurb

When a marriage of convenience is the only play left…

Special Agent Emmitt Marshall knows how to:
Wear a cowboy hat.
Hack anything.
Win at chess.
Fall in love with emotionally unavailable men.
He even knows the perfect play to catch the terrorists who killed his mentor.

Special Agent Levi Bishop doesn’t know how to:
Move on after his wife’s death.
Help his grieving son.
Pay off his mountain of debt.
Fix the mess some cowboy cyber agent made of his case.
The same cowboy who proposes a marriage of convenience to stop a common enemy.

Marsh is either the answer to Levi’s prayers—or a handsome nightmare in a Stetson.
Levi doesn’t know.
But both men do know their cases and lives are at a dead draw.
There’s only one play left…
I do.

Bio

Layla Reyne is the author of What We May Be and the Fog City, Agents Irish and Whiskey, and Trouble Brewing series. A Carolina Tar Heel who now calls California home, Layla enjoys weaving her bicoastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart pounding romance. You can find Layla online at https://www.laylareyne.com and on instagram, twitter, and Facebook @laylareyne.