M.A. Church: Welcome Sage Marlowe

Hey everyone, come on in and join us! Today I have Sage Marlowe at Decadent Delights. :) Sage is here to talk about Stockholm Syndrome, which will be released August 16th by Total-E-Bound.

Pretty cool title, huh?

Stockholm Syndrome

Gay MM erotic romance / thriller / suspense, super novel

Blurb

We don’t get to choose who we fall in love with—and sometimes we fall too far…

Daniel Eames is a bodyguard. Usually assigned to protecting politicians, he has fallen out of his boss’s good books after getting too close to his last charge’s son but when rising Hollywood star and Academy Award nominee Bryan McTiernan receives peculiar letters and requires the best possible protection, Dan is put on the job.

While he agrees that the letters are more than harmless fan mail, he finds it impossible to narrow down his suspicions and Bryan isn’t helping by alternately seducing and irritating the hell out of him. Against his better judgement, Dan falls for Bryan’s manipulations, but the more he gets to glimpse behind the façade of the young actor, the more he realises that something in Bryan’s past has a strong hold over him. While both Dan and Bryan are aware of this, neither sees the full extent of his fixation.

With the help of Gabe, a fellow bodyguard and friend, Dan pursues different theories and even hires a private investigator to learn about Bryan’s well-hidden past. What he discovers has the potential to destroy more than just a promising career and in the end, Bryan has to make a choice—allow for his past fixation to take him hostage again or run away and into Dan’s open arms?

Excerpt

I looked up from my desk and tossed aside the paper clip I’d been toying with. "Seriously, an actor? You know that’s not my usual clientele. Tell them to look elsewhere. Or send someone else, I don’t care. I’m not interested."

Michelle met my scowl with perfect calm. "Bronson wants you for the job, Daniel."

"Why on earth does he want me?"

"Make an educated guess."

Michelle was my boss’s secretary. As she stood there in my office, arms crossed in front of her chest and hips tilted, I realised once again that she combined the looks of an Afghan with the personality of a Doberman. I let out a weary sigh. "Babysitting Hollywood wannabes really isn’t my field of expertise," I pointed out. "And he’s on the other side of the fucking continent. Have they run out of bodyguards in LA?"

She snorted. "Hardly, and it’s not that they want to haul your ass over there because you’re so fucking fabulous either. They guy lives here in New York and you know, this is just a thought, but maybe Bronson wants you away from your so-called field of expertise after the, ahem, cock-up you made of your last assignment." I didn’t like the sugary tone in her voice, but she ignored the indignant stare I shot her and added, "Besides, Bryan McTiernan is hardly a Hollywood wannabe. He’s establishing himself as a household name. His last three films were huge box office hits, he earned himself an Academy Award nomination last year and his current film will probably win him one of the little golden boys."

"Good for him. If he’s such a big star, he ought to have at least a dozen bodyguards by now. Why don’t they take care of him?"

"Well, apparently Mr McTiernan has never been too concerned about his safety and doesn’t think he needs any security at all except for the usual muscle at big events. He wasn’t even the one who asked for protection. His management, however, has a different opinion. They want him to be safe and they’re willing to pay pretty much any price."

My curiosity was raised, despite my better judgement. "If they really said that, the boy’s got to be worth something."

"He’s just entered the eight figure league if that’s what you’re asking."

"Ten million bucks?"

She smirked. "Double that."

Impressed, I whistled through my teeth. "Not bad. Tell me more. What’s his problem exactly?"

Michelle gave me the kind of knowing half-smile that made me think she’d read my thoughts. "Stalker," she said.

I reached for my coffee and leant back, considering my options. When I’d started working in personal security a few years ago, I’d promised myself to never get involved with the Hollywood babes, no matter which place they called home, or with the rich and the famous. As far as safety was concerned, it was hard enough to protect someone who didn’t lead a life in the public eye, or had crazy fans that needed to be taken into account. But even I recognised a big fish when I heard about it and if the guy was worth that kind of money, then this case might be the perfect chance for me to prove my own value to my employer. I put down the cup and took a breath. "Is it serious?"

Michelle gave a shrug. "I really have no idea, but it sounds serious enough. Looks like his stalker is the kind who believes themselves to be his soul mate or some shit like that."

"I see. What do we have?"

"A bunch of letters."

"Okay. Threats?"

She shook her head.

"Personal contact of any kind?"

"No."

I paused briefly, then I said, "Could be nothing."

"I know. And yet it might be everything. Either way, it’s not as though you’ve got anything else to do at the moment, and as you can probably imagine, Mr B is dying to bag himself that assignment. You know you’re not in his good books right now. This could be your chance to jump right back into the first chapter."

So my thoughts hadn’t been all that wrong. "Bronson can just go fuck himself," I grumbled. "Why doesn’t he look after the kid himself if he wants the job so badly?"

Michelle rolled her eyes. "He wants you to do it, Dan, and he wants you to do it well. Extremely well. He can charge McTiernan’s management basically anything he wants for this job and they. Will. Pay. Having you as his watchdog is still cheaper than what they stand to lose if anything happens to him. And as for Bronson fucking himself—rumour has it that you are the one who will be seriously fucked if you don’t give Mr B a reason for keeping you, so do I really have to tell you that this is going to be a test for you?"

"Fuck. Really?" I’d suspected as much, but knowing I was officially on the boss’s shit list put a dent into my well-polished box of self-esteem.

"Really. As I said. He wasn’t impressed with what happened the last time."

I bit back a groan. As if I needed reminding. "Fine. I’ll meet the kid. Make an appointment, would you?"

Smirking, Michelle turned and walked to the door. "Already did. You’ll see him at three. The address is in your phone."

"Oh, what would I do without you?" I heaved a theatrical sigh.

"The same as you always do—try to knock down walls with that stubborn head of yours and collect bruises in the process."

* * * *

At five minutes before three, I pulled up at the address Michelle had helpfully typed into my electronic calendar. I was surprised at what I found. Instead of the huge, overpriced villa or town house I’d expected, I parked in front of an apartment building that could have been the address of any average Joe. An up-and-coming Hollywood star was certainly not who I would have imagined to live in this neighbourhood. But then again, underneath the makeup, big hair and larger-than-life personalities the media created for them, they were all just ordinary people and the Big Apple took another shade off their shine anyway.

I decided to wait for a couple more minutes as I didn’t want to appear overly enthusiastic by showing up early. It was true, I basically had to take on this assignment, but that was something my client didn’t know. Besides, lingering around for a little longer gave me an excuse to check out the hottie who’d just come running up the street. Yes, running was the right expression. Instead of the moderate pace many joggers, myself included, employed, the guy approached at full speed. He slowed down a bit when he reached my car and looked straight at me in passing. He quirked a dazzling smile, then he shot me a wink and bolted up the stairs to the apartment building. I was still staring at the door after it had fallen shut. Weirdo. Extremely pretty, though, from what I’d seen. I shook off the incident, unclipped the seatbelt and got out of the car. Time for a first security check.

Buy link:

Total-E-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2244

Stockholm Syndrome becomes available from all good distributors on August 16th

About the author

Sage is a multi-published author of MM erotic romance novels and novellas and loves exploring the flavours of gay erotic fiction.

A willing slave to all the fascinating guys who keep queuing up and want their stories told, Sage can almost always be found cooking up the next hot story or daydreaming about new ways of rubbing sexy male bodies together to make the sparks fly.