Author Spotlight--Tatum Throne + Giveaway

Welcome to another Author Spotlight on Monday! This week's guest is Tatum Throne, one of my fellow Siren Publishing authors. Besides having written for the same publisher, we're both Ohio girls and share a love of hiking. We seriously need to plan a writers' getaway at Hocking Hills!

Meet Tatum Throne! She's giving away an e-book to one lucky commenter!

Author Bio:
Tatum Throne has a master’s degree in social work. She left the field of medical social work to be a stay at home mom and to pursue her dreams of writing romance. She has three rambunctious boys with her husband, Mr. Throne, and two rowdy hamsters named CJ. She also has a pet rabbit named Coco who has taken over her office.

When not indulging her fantasies, Tatum enjoys baking chocolate chip cookies, hiking, spending time with her family, and spreading awareness of eosinophilic disorders.

You can find Tatum all over the web at:
http://www.tatumthrone.com
http://www.tatumthrone.blogspot.com
Find her on Facebook!

Check out her latest book, Branding Ben (MM):

Blurb:

Border agent Nick Marshal is a Dom who likes to work and play outside his professional and personal lines. After a fight with his coworker, Nick is reluctantly reassigned to the Rough Riders program. He’s been assigned to Ben Stone’s property to watch the border. Nick’s first assignment is to find Ben, who has suddenly gone missing.

Ben’s a cowboy who has just taken ownership of his late uncle’s ranch. In over his head, Ben has a lot to learn about what it takes to keep a ranch running. The first mistake he makes is going out alone to get the lay of the land. Ben doesn’t have any long-term plans. Will he realize what he has before it’s too late?

As things get intense, Nick takes control. Nick knows that this cowboy is wild and needs to be tamed by his rules of submission, but will Ben submit to Nick’s commands or will he need to be wrangled?

Excerpt:

Border patrol Agent Nick Marshal froze in his tracks. He glanced over his shoulder at the mud slinger, Clint, as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. “Try saying that to my fucking face.”

“You’re a pussy,” Clint said.

Nick shoved Clint up against the filing cabinets, shaking the potted plants on top. One plant knocked over, sending dirt and fertilizer all over the papers on top of the cabinet. He lowered his voice to a whisper that only Clint would be able to hear. “Don’t pick a fight you can’t win.”

“You’re too much of a pussy to fight me,” Clint said. “We both know that.”

Right now, Nick wanted to smash the smug satisfaction off of Clint’s face. “Try me.”

Clint’s auburn hair was buzzed short. There was a bad attitude stamped in his eyes as he stared Nick down. Nick was well aware that he didn’t have any friends within the department. Clint liked to point that fact out every chance he got. Nick was a loner. He just didn’t make friends the way a normal person did. Nick was an introvert. Most probably took that as arrogant. He did his job and went home. Of course, home was where his demons started to play tag in his mind. He did not want this fight today. Clint stared at him, egging him on.

“What the fuck is going on with you, Clint?” Nick asked.

When silence echoed back, Nick shoved Clint up against the file cabinets again, denting them this time.
“I’d watch your step,” Clint said.

Nick knew he was crossing the line, but he didn’t care. He was tired of the rumors swirling around the department about his sexual orientation. Yeah, he could have deflected them by coming out, but he wasn’t about to do that to satisfy someone’s else’s perverted urges to crucify him. Nick was so far into the closet that he wasn’t about to step out in front of this firing squad Clint was organizing. He was positive they didn’t know a damn thing about his past. That was long ago buried. Or was it? Had someone gotten ahold of his personnel file? Had someone in the department leaked his private hell?

Nick let go of Clint with a shove. “Leave me the fuck alone. Stay out of my way and we won’t have any more problems.”
Nick strode to the doorway that led to the main hall. He had to get away from Clint before he did something epically stupid.

“You’re still a pussy.”

There was going to be a nasty fight. Nick froze midstride. Clint was going to keep pushing until he got one. Nick fisted both of his hands, wishing for clarity. It wasn’t happening. He clenched and unclenched his fists. He always did when he was so fucking pissed off that he couldn’t think straight. He tried to see past this moment, but Clint was making it really difficult.

“Say that to my face.”

“You’re a pussy.”

It was on.

Nick rushed up into Clint’s face, but didn’t touch him. He blocked him in between the cabinet and the corner desk. “Hit me.”

Clint grinned. “Not going to happen, pussy.”

Nick crossed his arms and leaned in close, lowering his voice. He knew if he didn’t cross them he’d be reaching out to strangle Clint. “By the time this is over, you’re going to be munching my cunt if you keep calling me a pussy.”
Nick turned away, heading out of the room. He had to get control of his emotions running wild through his body. Clint’s laughter slapped the back of Nick’s head with the force of a bowling ball.

“Fucking pussy.”

Before Nick could process the move, he was across the room and grabbing hold of Clint by the front of his tactical shirt. This time he wasn’t going to let go. This time he was going to make a statement to everyone in the department to leave him the fuck alone. The window was open. Nick wanted to chuck Clint out of it, but Nick put a stop on that temptation. Nick swung Clint by the shirt, tossing him across the room.

Papers went flying as Clint slid across his desk. A cup of pens and pencils hit the wall and rolled across the floor. Clint fell off the desk and onto his ass, knocking his desk chair back with a bang against more filing cabinets. Clint sprang to his feet, spinning a binder at Nick’s head. Despite ducking, the rough corner of the binder hit Nick’s temple. This fight was a long time coming. Things weren’t the same with Clint since Nick got the promotion and Clint was bypassed. Heat dripped down the side of Nick’s face. He knew he was bleeding.

“Leave me the fuck alone,” Nick said. “I don’t want any more problems with you.”

He rounded and came face to face with his director, Sam Peters. This was not good. Sam took a look around at the destruction in the office. His hands were cocked on his hips. One hand was on the butt of his Glock while the other fingered the holder of his cuffs. Yeah, it was clear that he was thinking about shooting first and asking questions later. Sam would probably bury them both in the desert and then go to lunch. Sam’s hard edge had hard edges that Nick didn’t care to understand. The man looked absolutely dangerous in the light of day. It probably had a lot to do with the scars on his right arm that he never talked about.

“Both of you, in my office now,” Sam said. “Now!”

Sam turned and headed into the hallway. Clint glared at Nick, waiting until Sam was out of earshot.

“Ladies first,” Clint said.

Don't forget to comment for a chance to win an e-book copy of Branding Ben from Tatum!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With A Kick!