Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Spotlight: Elements of Retrofit by N.R. Walker

Blog Tour October 7 - 11
Book Promotions by Literary Nook


Title: Elements of Retrofit

Author: N.R. Walker
Release Date: November 22, 2013
Available for preorder: October 11, 2013
Genre: M/M Contemporary


Cover Art by: Posh Gosh



My new release, Elements of Retrofit – Book 1 in the Thomas Elkin Series is out now at the TEB site, and will be available at third-party sites like Amazon early October. I’m incredibly proud of this three-part series and can’t wait for the world to meet Tom and Cooper.
Blurb:
A successful New York architect, Thomas Elkin almost has it all. Coming out as gay and ending his marriage before his fortieth birthday, he needed to start living his life. Now, four years later, with his relationship with his son back on track, and after a few short-lived romances, this esteemed traditional draftsman thought he knew everything about architecture, about life.
Cooper Jones, twenty-two years old, is about to take the architect world by storm. Talented, professional, driven, and completely infuriating, Cooper is the definition of Generation Y.
Starting an internship working with Thomas, Cooper is about to knock Tom’s world off its axis. Tom can teach Cooper about the architecture industry, but Cooper is about to teach Tom what it means to live.

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Excerpt:
It was with a dreaded anticipation I went to work the next day. An errant thought occurred to me when I was stepping out of the elevator to my office that he could report me for sexual harassment and in that split second, a thousand thoughts ran through my head.
I half expected Jennifer to tell me I had a team of lawyers sitting in my office, but she just smiled and handed me messages. “Coffee is on your desk.” I ran my hand through my hair and huffed out a breath in relief. Jesus, what had I got myself into?
I was at my desk about half an hour later when Jennifer walked in with Cooper behind her. He was dressed in his usual tailor-fitted suit, looking even better today than he ever had, but he said nothing more than a polite and quiet, “Good morning, Mr Elkin.” I had a lunch meeting, and a consult meeting, and I saw him briefly throughout the day. But not once did he make eye contact. He didn’t look at me and smile, or laugh, like I was used to seeing.
He basically didn’t acknowledge me. He was professional and stoic, like nothing had happened between us. Maybe he was right. Maybe if he kissed me once, he would get it out of his system and move on like nothing happened at all.
I, on the other hand was a distracted mess.
I didn’t know if he was playing some kind of game. I didn’t know if he was just being professional, or if I was truly out of his system and now meant nothing to him.
All day, every time the phone rang, I half expected Jennifer to tell me one of the partners wanted to see me because a complaint had been lodged against me.
That call never came of course, but at six o’clock when Jennifer knocked on my door to say goodnight, Cooper was behind her. I looked up from my desk, “Goodnight, Jennifer,” I said. Then I looked back at the papers on my desk. “Mr Jones. A moment, please.”
Jennifer gave a nod and left Cooper to walk in. He sat down and looked around my office, then at me. “Yes?”
I didn’t exactly know what to say, or how to say it. So I went with a safer, “You’ve been busy today?”
He looked at me seriously and said, “It’s technically after hours, so can I speak freely?”
I looked at him, unsure of what he meant. “Yes.”
But he didn’t speak. He threw his head back and laughed. “Jennifer has been on my ass all day,” he said with a laugh. “Said you looked stressed this morning and didn’t need any interruptions from the likes of me.”
“The likes of you?”
“Those were her words.”
I smiled, relieved, and exhaled loudly. “I almost had a stress-attack getting out of the elevator this morning,” I admitted. “I wondered if my boss and his lawyers would be in my office when I got here.”
Cooper’s smile died. “What for?”
“A sexual harassment case, from a certain twenty-two-year-old employee,” I said, looking pointedly at him.
I could have compiled a list of how I expected him to react, but laughter wouldn’t have been on it. He laughed again and when he looked at me again and saw the look on my face, he laughed some more.
“It’s hardly funny,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Were you really worried?” he asked, still smiling.
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“Neither did I,” he admitted. “So, is this where you tell me it was just the one kiss and nothing more? Is that what you called me in here for? To say thanks but no thanks?”
“It was actually three kisses.”
“I wasn’t counting.”
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. This was it. This was where the line got drawn or where the lines got blurred.
“You seemed pretty into it from where I was standing,” he said.
I barked out a laugh. He had no idea how into it I was, how often I thought of him or the positions I thought of him in. Fuck.
I must be losing my mind.
“What do you want?” I asked, trying to take the pressure off making it my decision.
“I want an honest answer.”
I exhaled in a huff. He wasn’t letting me out of this. “I… I, um…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he said impatiently. “If I were to offer to bring dinner to your place tonight, would you say yes or no?”
“Are you always so forthright?” I asked. “Or is it a Gen Y thing?”
He raised one eyebrow at me. “For one of the best, most sought-after draughtsmen in the industry, you’re not very good at making decisions.”
“Professional decisions are easy,” I told him. “Personal ones are not.”
“Oh, Tom, just answer the question.”
He called me Tom. Not sir, not Mr Elkin, not even Thomas. He called me Tom.
“Yes. Yes, I want dinner. Yes, I want more. Once wasn’t enough,” I blurted out. “Once was never going to be enough.”
He grinned at me, and held up three fingers. “It was actually three kisses.”
I bit back a sigh. “Are you always so infuriating?”
Cooper laughed. “Yep, it’s a Gen Y thing.”
I groaned. “Can I take back the offer of dinner?”
“Nope,” he said, standing up. “I’m getting Chinese, and I’ll be at your place in”—he looked at his watch—“half an hour.”
I smiled as I watched him walk out. When the door closed behind him, I let out a groan, and ran my hands through my hair. I shut down my laptop, picked up my satchel and turned the lights off when I left.
I think I grinned the whole way home.
Author Bio:
Who am I?
Good question…
I am many things; a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer.
I have pretty, pretty boys who live in my head, who don't let me sleep at night unless I give them life with words.
I like it when they do dirty, dirty things...but I like it even more when they fall in love.
I used to think having people in my head talking to me was weird, until one day I happened across other writers who told me it was normal.
I've been writing ever since…
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