Playing With Fire by @DirkGreyson Blog Tour | Spotlight, Excerpt & #giveaway #mmromance @Dreamspinners

Jim Crawford was born wealthy, but he turned his back on it to become a police officer. Add that to his being gay, and he’s definitely the black sheep of the family. 

Dr. Barty Halloran grew up with lessons instead of friends and toys and, as a result, became a gifted psychologist… with only an academic understanding of people and emotions. 

When Jim’s pursuit of a serial killer goes nowhere, he turns to Dr. Halloran for help, and Barty thinks he can get inside the shooter’s mind. In many ways, they’re two sides of the same coin, which both scares and intrigues him. Together, Jim and Barty make progress on the case—until the stakes shoot higher when the killer turns his attention toward Barty. 

To protect Barty, Jim offers to let Barty stay with him, where he discovers the doctor has a heart to go along with his brilliant mind after all. But as they close in on their suspect, the killer becomes desperate, and he’ll do anything to elude capture—even threaten those closest to Jim.

Buy links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon 


Excerpt...

Jim finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the table. Their conversation had taken a turn he hadn’t expected at all. From teasing each other about who they like to talking about compulsions that lead to shooting sprees. Time spent with Barty wasn’t dull, that’s for sure.

“I can’t argue with you because I don’t have the facts to back me up. All I know is what I believe.” And Jim wanted to think that Barty wasn’t capable of shooting anyone.

“I think there’s a lot more to who we are and how we behave than just how our parents treat us and whether we have a chance to play or not.” He got up, grabbed his phone, and pulled up a traffic application. He could call in to the station, but it was easier if he didn’t have to disturb them. “It looks like the freeway is moving again.”

“Thank you for the beer and for the dinner,” Barty said. “I’ll do some more research on what we’ve found to see if I have any more ideas that we can apply.”

Jim walked Barty back through the house and out to his car. “Drive safely, and I’ll be in touch when we have something new.” He hoped to hell it wasn’t another shooting. Jim waited as Barty got into his car and then pulled out of the drive and away from the house. He didn’t go inside right away, watching after Barty and wondering what the hell had just happened.

Barty was someone special, incredibly interesting, and as much as he hated to admit it, attractive as all hell. In many ways Barty pushed his buttons, but he’d told himself more than once that he wasn’t going down that path again. The crap with Garrett was more than enough heartbreak to last one lifetime, and his fascination with geeky guys with glasses had already led him astray more than once. He’d told Barty that he believed people made their own choices, and he was going to choose to date a different kind of guy, and that was all there was to it. On top of that, he’d already seen more of humanity’s worst than any man had a right to. So why in the hell would he open himself up again? It was easier to just live his life and do his job.

With that decided, he closed his front door, shutting the outside world away for a little while and closing the book on any thoughts he might have had for Barty Halloran. They were going to work together, that was all, and the incredibly hot, innocent, and thought-provoking man in the hottest, geekiest set of glasses on God’s green earth was going to remain only a colleague and nothing more.

Jim’s resolution was sound, and he was determined. He checked the clock and actually thought about going out for the evening to some place where he could have a little fun and maybe get some action. All these thoughts about Barty had to be frustration building around the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in so very long. There were plenty of clubs where he could find someone interesting for a few hours. When Jim turned around, he bumped his briefcase and it fell on its side, scattering papers on the floor.

“Right,” Jim said to himself as he gathered them up. He had work to do and reports and evidence to review yet again. His case was the most important one that his community had seen in years, and he was going to catch this guy if it was the last thing he did. Clubs and boyfriends, all kinds, geeky or not, were going to have to wait until this thing was over and their shooter was behind bars.

Jim activated the alarm and turned off the lights except in the family room, where he spread out his papers and got to work. There was a solution in here somewhere, and he needed to figure out what it was.

Dirk is very much an outside kind of man.  He loves travel and seeing new things.  Dirk worked in corporate America for way too long and now spends his days writing, gardening, and taking care of the home he shares with his partner of more than two decades.  He has a Master’s Degree and all the other accessories that go with a corporate job.  But he is most proud of the stories he tells and the life he's built.  Dirk lives in Pennsylvania in a century old home and is blessed with an amazing circle of friends.  

Amazon Author Page

Email

Facebook Author Page

Facebook

Goodreads

Twitter @dirkgreyson

a Rafflecopter giveaway