Excerpt: Renovating the Model by Nora Phoenix

Today I am so pleased to welcome Nora Phoenix to Joyfully Jay. Nora has come to share an exclusive excerpt from Renovating the Model. Please join me in giving a big welcome!

Exclusive Excerpt

We stared at each other for a few beats, and then Cas cleared his throat. “Anyway, I was…”

He gestured vaguely at the bakery. Hmm, maybe I could use our encounter to feel him out on the possibility of spending some time together? I was only in town for a week, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun together. As long as he understood it was nothing more than sex, I had a feeling we could burn up the sheets.

“Wanna share my goodies with me? She gave me way more than I can eat.” I patted my stomach. “The days when I could eat whatever I wanted without consequences are long since gone. I can’t afford to eat that many carbs.”

Cas’s gaze slid downward, following my gesture. “You look perfect to me.”

Wow, that was unexpected. He froze, then groaned. “Fuck, did I really say that out loud? Why do I keep saying these things around you? It’s like my brain won’t function when you’re near.”

I held back a laugh. “And I’m even wearing clothes this time.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course you’d bring that up. As if my humiliation wasn’t complete.”

I bumped his shoulder. “Come on, let’s eat some of these pastries. It’s a beautiful day.”

Still grumbling a little, Cas followed me to the picnic table next to the bakery, painted in the same Caribbean blue as the tables inside. We sat opposite each other, and I unpacked the rest of the bag and laid it all out on the table. “Pick whatever you want.”

“Don’t you want to at least taste some of these?” Cas asked. “We could cut them all in half.”

I eyeballed the calorie total that would come to. “That’s still too much for me. But you can take the rest home with you.”

“Well, I’m not gonna say no to that. I eat like a bear every day.”

“You don’t look like a bear,” I teased him.

He chuckled. “Don’t have quite the age for it either…unlike some people.”

Oh, he was getting me back. I loved it. “I do have the age, but not the body. I would if I stopped being so careful about what I eat.”

Blurb

Everyone knows my face. No one knows the real me.

All people see when they look at me is a beautiful man, a supermodel, half of the world’s most famous twins. No one sees the man underneath.

When I return to Forestville, the small town I grew up in, for my high school reunion, I impulsively decide to stay.

I’m now the proud owner of a house, an absolute fixer-upper. Never mind that I have two left hands.

Thank god for Cas, the local contractor, who agrees to help me out. We come from completely different worlds and are almost twenty years apart, yet we somehow connect.

Cas sees me, the real me.

We hook up…
Then become friends…
With benefits (courtesy of a snow storm)…
And a fake relationship (long story)…

But when fake becomes real and pretending turns into feelings I can’t deny, I’m left wondering if what we have stands a chance.

Renovating the Model is the first book in the new Forestville Silver Foxes series, a contemporary small-town MM romance series featuring hot silver foxes and the men who fall in love with them. Each book can be read as a standalone.

Bio

Would you like the long or the short version of my bio?

The short?

You got it. I write steamy gay romance books and I love it. I also love reading books. Books are everything.

How was that? A little more detail? Gotcha.

I started writing my first stories when I was a teen…on a freaking typewriter. I still have these, and they’re adorably romantic. And bad, haha. Fear of failing kept me from following my dream to become a romance author, so you can imagine how proud and ecstatic I am that I finally overcame my fears and self doubt and did it. I adore my genre because I love writing and reading about flawed, strong men who are just a tad broken..but find their happy ever after anyway.

My favorite books to read are pretty much all MM/gay romances as long as they have a happy end. Kink is a plus… Aside from that, I also read a lot of nonfiction and not just books on writing. Popular psychology is a favorite topic of mine and so are self help and sociology.

Hobbies? Ain’t nobody got time for that. Just kidding. I love traveling, spending time near the ocean, and hiking. But I love books more.

Come hang out with me in my Facebook Group Nora’s Nook where I share previews, sneak peeks, freebies, fun stuff, and much more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/norasnook/

Wanna get first dibs on freebies, updates, sales, and more? Sign up for my newsletter (no spamming your inbox full…promise!) here: http://www.noraphoenix.com/newsletter/

You can also stalk me on Twitter: @NoraPhoenixMM