Model Citizen
By: Lissa Kasey
Narrated by: Mike Pohlable
Series: Haven
Investigations, Book 1
Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 07-26-16
Language: English
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Press LLC
4 out of 5 stars 4.1 (73 ratings)
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Oliver “Ollie”
Petroskovic’s life as an international supermodel was heading in the right
direction. He worked part-time for his brother at his detective
agency—Petroskovic Haven Investigations—and had just bought his dream house.
But all that changed when he found his brother dead, a victim of PTSD-induced
suicide.
Almost a year later, Ollie
is trying to keep his brother’s business afloat, but can’t get his PI license.
Then his brother’s best friend, Kade Alme, shows up, fresh from the battlefield
after a close brush with death. Kade is looking for a new life, in more ways
than one, and with PI license in hand, he’s exactly what Ollie needs to keep
PHI running.
When one of Ollie's
childhood friends gets in trouble, Ollie feels he has to help. Kade insists on
investigating if only to keep Ollie safe. Neither realizes the danger they’re
in as someone tries to tear them apart before they can find solid ground
together.
Buy links Dreamspinner Audible Amazon
Cat gives
this one 5 Meows...
Model citizen is the first book in an ongoing series. It does end in a cliffhanger leaving you begging for the next book. I suggest you read this one first and get ready for the rest.
Ollie is an androgynous model that likes to wear lacy panties and pretty dresses both on and off the runway. He is tall and slender with effeminate looks but he is all man. I loved that he was such an unusual character, very confident but has issues he is dealing with ( can't say that since it would be a spoiler) His brother killed himself because of post PSD trauma from the military and Ollie is trying to keep the PI business afloat, but he can't get his PI license.
Kade, his brother's best friend from the military shows up. He has just been through trauma from a bomb in the military, injured, with PTSD and a PI license to help Ollie. He also has had a thing for Ollie for years but Nate warned him off.
I loved both Ollie and Nate. There are many other side characters that I loved as well. I liked the slow burn of the romance, all the mystery, and twists, loads of action. This book hit my favorites list.
I listened to this on audio and Mike Pohlable did an excellent job and I loved Ollie's voice. I was dragged into the story and kept there until the end and wanting more.
Excerpt…
Prologue
I ROTATED my wrist in a
circle to try to relieve the cramping and numbness forming, but they kept
pushing more pages at me to initial, sign, and date. Hard to believe I, Oliver
Petroskovic, had given them a check for over a million dollars for a home with
“beautiful city views, Victorian bones, and a large private yard.” The place
was a dump with crumbling walls, torn wallpaper, no appliances, and missing
copper plumbing. However, it was going to be home for generations of
Petroskovics. If there was anything Jacob, my ex-boyfriend, had taught me with
his betrayal, it was that blood truly was thicker than water.
Now all I needed was for
my older brother Nathan to find some pretty girl to settle down with and have
babies. I would be the proud uncle, spoiling the kids, watching them grow, and
being easily coaxed into free babysitting when I wasn’t walking a runway in
Paris or Milan. A few more years of modeling, and I could retire wealthy enough
to take care of the whole family no matter how many kids Nathan had.
I’d have to retire soon,
anyway. Models didn’t often last beyond twenty-two, and I was already pushing
twenty-three. I thanked God every day for blessing me with flawless skin and
the feminine figure that made my teenage years miserable but my modeling so
lucrative.
I never would have dreamt
at fifteen that seven years later I’d be traveling the world, speaking a
half-dozen languages, and studying the high-pressure venue of fashion. No, that
skinny kid was all knees and elbows and endlessly teased for never being enough
of a man. But the money I made taking off my clothes and dressing femininely
paid for the house in full. A house others could only dream of in the expensive
Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, California, where multimillion-dollar
houses congregated in beautiful rows of Victorian architecture. Sure, the house
needed work, but no mortgage was a good thing. I wouldn’t have to worry about
maintaining the high-buck jobs I fought so hard for now. And Nathan would help
with the renovations, make it our home.
We had looked at over a
hundred places. Some immaculate, which appealed to my laziness, but not to
Nathan’s need to improve. And I debated with my agent on the price so many
times, unwilling to pay so much for spaces too small for the effort of moving.
The studio apartment Nathan and I had shared for the past three years worked
well only when I was traveling. The flat was just too small, though it was
blocks from the building Nathan used as an office for his investigations
business. An easy walk to public transportation, shops, and endless restaurants
made the rent sky-high. Buying was more economical. And finding a fixer with
potential sweat equity was what Nathan had convinced me we needed.
The three-thousand square
foot, three-story layout would give us plenty of space to not always be bumping
into each other, and yet keep us close enough we wouldn’t have to go far to
find the other. Nathan had been looking after me for years. Warned me about
Jacob. My house search had actually begun as a way to find a home for Jacob and
me to be together. But I should have listened to Nathan.
Jacob Elias was a rock
star—with a voice like a god and an amazing ass in leather pants. He’d even won
a couple Grammys and was featured on magazines everywhere. Which meant my face
was plastered across every rag from here to Timbuktu. A year of my life I’d
wasted, listening to him tell me all the stories about him cheating were
untrue. Until I caught him in bed with another man. Nathan was there with a hug
instead of a told-you-so.
A million dollars didn’t
seem like that much in the larger scope of things, though it had been the bulk
of my savings. I’d rather have Nathan close at hand than money, anyway. He was
all I had, and I couldn’t wait to rush home and hand him the keys.
“Just one last signature,
Mr. Petroskovic.” The guy slaughtered my last name again. He’d been corrected a
half-dozen times. “That ad you did in Esquire was phenomenal.” He adjusted his
tie and smiled, winking at me.
I sighed, signed the last
page, and shoved my mirrored sunglasses down to cover my eyes, giving the man a
slight smile. “Thanks.” Not interested, move along.
“Where are you from?” he
tried again, apparently not getting my not-so-subtle hint the first time.
“Oakland,” I replied and
turned toward my real estate agent, effectively turning off the conversation.
The man was probably shocked by my origins. But Nathan and I had come a long
way from neighborhoods filled with gangs, drugs, and never-ending violence. I
couldn’t count the number of times people had offered to pay me for sex while I
walked home from school. Nathan saved my ass often when some wannabe something
thought the pretty blond kid with a hard-to-pronounce last name was worth
stirring up trouble. We’d survived. Worked hard to make ourselves better.
Nathan had enlisted at seventeen, only to be called home six years later when
our parents died. He refused to let the state separate us and instead left the
Marines to take over as my guardian. I was twelve, and he became my life.
The rest was history. What
we had now was the future. And I could finally give back to the man who’d given
me everything he could. I fingered the keys as they made copies of the
paperwork for me. Nathan was going to be so excited to start working on the
house. When he wasn’t tracking down cheating spouses and white-collar
criminals, he was building something. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d make of
the house. The attic space would be mine. The giant wall of windows with
sparkling glimpses of the ocean in the far distance called to me. The
unfinished space was three times the size of our studio and would be solely
mine.
My realtor handed me a
folder filled with papers. He was probably thrilled to get rid of me. Over a
year of searching and a dozen fruitless bids had finally brought us to this
day. He held out his hand, and I took it to shake. “Congratulations, Oliver.”
I grinned at him. It was
done. The house was ours. “Thank you for your patience, Mr. Frost.” I grabbed
up my bag, shoved the folder in it, and headed for the door. Since I was
downtown, I could walk home instead of calling a cab, but I wanted to get to
Nathan so bad. He’d be at work, of course. But he would look up, smile, tell me
he was proud of me, and maybe I could convince him to close up for the day to
celebrate.
Tall, dark, and handsome
waited for me in the lobby.
It was Will, my brother’s
best friend, my best friend’s husband, and San Francisco PD. “What are you
doing here?” I had to ask him. His lack of uniform meant he was off-duty, but
he wore everything well with strong shoulders and lean hips. Even in jeans and
a polo, no one would mistake him for anything other than a cop. He was my first
crush. I’d been sixteen when he’d appeared back in Nathan’s life. A fellow
Marine, he and Nathan were close. And when Nathan wasn’t around, Will usually
was.
“Came to pick you up and
take you to a congratulatory lunch. Britney planned it but had a last-minute
client. So you’re stuck with me. How’s donuts sound?” He was always making cop
jokes at his own expense.
I laughed. Britney was
Will’s wife and my best friend. I could imagine how she had begged her husband,
likely promising sexual favors, just to get Will to show up. He’d have come
anyway, but I knew for a fact Will loved playing negotiator with Britney. Since
I couldn’t have him, I was pretty happy my best friend had gotten him. “And
ruin my girlish figure? You know I don’t eat that stuff.”
“Tofu and air it is,” Will
teased as he led the way to his Suburban.
“Fish. No tofu.” I
scrunched up my face in distaste. “Even I have standards. But let’s go get
Nathan first.” I waved the new keys around and got in the truck. “I want to
give him the keys to the house since I’m leaving for Milan tomorrow.”
Will backed the truck out
of the lot. “PHI it is, then. Maybe you can convince that workaholic brother of
yours to actually go to lunch with us. You know he’ll make some excuse about
having work to do.”
Yeah, that was Nathan. He
worked more than I did, often banking eighty or more hours a week. Sadly the
fruits of his labor would never be enough to afford us a house large enough to
live comfortably. The million-dollar dream house was a thank-you from me to
Nathan. I owed him so much. He’d paid for private school and attended all of
those early modeling sessions to protect me from predators. Lots of people
wanted to take advantage of the kid who suddenly began making thousands of
dollars for taking off his clothes. I learned very quickly to be comfortable in
nothing but my skin, but to also be wary of the world, as everyone wanted
something from me.
“Business appears to be
booming as usual,” Will snarked as he pulled into the lot in front of the PHI
building and parked the truck. Other than Nathan’s battered Honda, the lot was
empty.
“He’s probably at the
computer doing background checks.” Whenever I wasn’t modeling, it was what I
did. My college degree had been achieved with the idea that someday I’d be
assisting Nathan full-time at PHI. But since I was off signing my life away for
a house this morning, that left the boring computer work and answering phones
to Nathan, who hated it.
I slid out of the truck
and trudged to the front door, giving it a hard yank. It was locked. That was
weird. I fished my key ring out of my pocket and flipped through them until I
found the one for the door, and unlocked it. “Maybe he’s taking a break?”
Will frowned but pulled
the door open and held it for me. “Not really something your brother does
without coaxing. Did he say anything about having a meeting today?”
I shook my head. I was the
one who arranged Nathan’s schedule and couldn’t recall anything being lined up
for today. “It would have had to be something last minute,” I told Will as I
stepped inside. The office smelled. Metallic and something more unpleasant.
“What’s that smell?” It couldn’t be a gas leak; the office was electric. In
fact, Nathan had installed solar panels on the roof last year, taking it mostly
off the grid. Costs to stay in San Francisco were sky-high as it was, so we
tried to stay green and cheap all at once.
Maybe the bathroom was
backed up. “Nathan?” I called.
Will grabbed my arm and
dragged me away from the door to Nathan’s office. “Go out to the car, Ollie.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed. “Got a possible DB,” he told
the person who answered and rattled off the address.
Lissa Kasey is more than
just romance. She specializes in-depth characters, detailed world-building, and
twisting plots to keep you clinging to your book reader. All stories have a
side of romance, emotionally messed up protagonists and feature LGBTGA spectrum
characters facing real-world problems no matter how fictional the story.
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