DISORDERLY CONDUCT
Series: The Academy #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Tessa Bailey
Release Date: August 29, 2017
You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone…
Police academy cadet Charlie Burns can’t believe his luck when the gorgeous blonde he meets in a bar murmurs those magic words: “Nothing serious, ’kay?” Mind-blowing, no-strings sex with Ever Carmichael—it’s the holy grail of hookups for a guy who’s too busy following in his law enforcement family’s footsteps to think about getting serious. Charlie’s all about casual…that is, until Ever calls it quits and his world tilts on its axis.
Ever knows that when you control the relationship game, you can’t get played. But for the first time, she wants more than short-term satisfaction. Step one: end her fling with commitment-phobic Charlie. Step two: sacrifice herself to the ruthless NYC dating scene. Yet everywhere she turns, there’s Charlie, being his ridiculously charming self. No online match or blind date compares to the criminally hot cop-in-training, but they’re over. Aren’t they?
If love is a four-letter-word, why does the idea of Ever seeing someone else tie Charlie up in knots? Now he’s desperate to win her back…and a little date sabotage never hurt anyone, right?
If you follow my blog, you already know what a HUGE Tessa Bailey fan I am. And the fact that I’m salivating for every single one of her releases is pretty damn hard to miss. Well I was downright flailing with excited glee when I saw she’ll have more of her dirty talk hot cops for us with her brand new Academy series and I fell head over ovaries with this series immediately after finishing Disorderly Conduct. I’m so excited to have the queen of dirty talk today with an interview with DGR and I’m even more excited for you all to discover this AMAZING new series!
DGR: For those that haven’t read Disorderly Conduct and seen your acknowledgment, can you tell us about your inspiration for The Academy series?
TB: Yes! I would love to! I’ve never had a story idea come to me in dream format before, but I woke up one morning with a fresh memory that literally made my chest ache. A man on his way to a lover’s apartment, so obviously in love with her (but in complete denial) and no idea she’s about to break it off to go look for something “real.” I was in the middle of another project, but immediately set it aside to write the first chapter of DISORDERLY CONDUCT.
DGR: Disorderly Conduct had equally the cutest and sexiest meet cute ever! Did you picture it before you even wrote the book?
TB: Thank you! I love it, too! Charlie and Ever made magic in that rainy day pub. Originally, the book didn’t include the meet-cute! It started with Charlie walking to Ever’s apartment (like in my dream), but my editor correctly decided people would want to see that first meeting. And thus, the Mistress Test was formed, with a little help of my vast Titanic movie knowledge!
DGR: I LOVED Ever Carmichael. For all her quirks and issues, she’s such a solid person who owns their sexuality and makes no excuses for it. What’s your favorite thing about Ever?
TB: I think I loved her compassion most of all. Even when Charlie was being an absolute idiot, she saw through to his inner turmoil and wanted to be his friend, as well as his lover. But I can’t help but include her snappy sense of humor as a close second. I mean, she did threaten to shoot lasers out of her eyeballs at Charlie.
DGR: Charlie Burns. GAH. The man makes my ovaries burn. Ha! See what I did there? But I digress. I loved his playfulness in the story. He’s also such a lost boy at times, which was so endearing. What’s your favorite thing about Charlie?
TB: Exactly that. I love nothing more than writing a cluelessly endearing hero. There’s just something about a man who is confused and knocked over sideways by his own feelings. “Wait…she loves me? I…love her? Oh, God. I LOVE HER SO MUCH”. What makes us want to excuse Charlie’s lack of clarity is the fact that he’s also super protective and capable. Sigh.
DGR: What was your favorite scene to write for this book?
TB: There is a scene when Charlie arrives to help Ever cater a party. They haven’t really spent any time together as “friends”—and when he shows up and sees her in her element (spinning circles around the kitchen), he realizes how much he doesn’t know about her. How dynamic she is. And the seeds are planted in his mind that he screwed up big time by letting her go.
DGR: Now you know I have to ask this, because you ARE at Dirty Girl Romance after all, but sweet jesus, woman! How do you keep coming up with hotter and hotter sex scenes and the most sizzling dirty talk? Share your dirty secret. It’s tumblr, isn’t it? Oh wait…that’s my dirty secret…
TB: HA! Well, thank you very much! I’m not sure where the inspiration comes from, but I like to give every couple their unique flavor. Whenever Charlie got his hands on Ever, he kind of just became an animal and Ever fed off of it, that male desperation fulfilling something inside her. When you have a good foundation for what turns your characters on, you can make the booty original every time.
DGR: What are you most excited about with this new series?
TB: This series feels like coming full circle. I started my writing career with NYC cops and now I’m back—and it really just felt like coming home. I know this type of man and they’re SO fun for me to write! Law enforcement heroes are my kryptonite and I’m most excited to be back in my happy place. Not to mention getting to share it with everyone who loved my original cops!
DGR: If you had a dream cast for Charlie and Ever, who would they be?
TB: Well. I watch a lot of Disney Channel because I have a six year old. And there’s an actress named Dove Cameron who is in a few shows. She’s funny and sexy and relatable. I totally envision her as Ever. As for Charlie, there’s an actor named Sean Faris that is mega adorable and plays a cop on television. He would be my ideal Charlie.
DGR: What do you want readers to know about the Academy series?
TB: I want readers to know they’ll have a lot of fun and probably sweat beneath their clothes during the sex scenes. The characters are deep, but the angst doesn’t overshadow the fun.
DGR: Can you give us a little taste of what we can expect from Disorderly Contact with a favorite scene from the book?
Ever Carmichael is salvation.I’m not just saying that because she calls me big man when we’re fucking.
I’m already unbuttoning my uniform shirt, even though I haven’t even reached her building’s lobby yet. My cock is so stiff, I think I might black the fuck out before I get it inside her. Here’s the thing, though. Ever will understand. She’ll take one look at the tented fly of my standard issue, police academy pants and let her slinky, bad girl panties drop.
This woman. You just can’t fathom the magic she wields.
I don’t want anything serious, ’kay?
She said those words to me the rainy afternoon we met. At which point angels filled the bar and started singing. I’ve had women tell me before they didn’t want entanglements or relationships, too. My long line of law-enforcement ancestry, however, has honed my ability to differentiate between truth and fiction. And Ever is the first woman who actually meant those words. Nothing. Serious.
I’m right across the street from her building now—a four-story tenement on the Lower East Side. She works nights running her start-up catering company and sleeps late, so at noon on my lunch break, she’ll still be soft from bed. Freshly showered. I’m going to fuck her lights out, I swear to Christ. As soon as I walk in the door.
In the month since we met, the urgency to be inside Ever has only skyrocketed. The need to get my hands on her smooth skin, my tongue inside her bare pussy. You don’t understand—I’m a fiend for this woman.
And guess what? That’s perfectly fine, because I can have Ever any time I need her. Now, hear me out before calling me an arrogant prick—although I admit to being one on occasion. Ever can have me, too, when she needs me. This arrangement works both ways. After a Maroon 5 concert two weeks ago, she showed up at my apartment around midnight, high on Adam Levine—or whatever he’s called—and we didn’t even make it inside. I hiked up her tiny, leather skirt and gave it to her right there in the hallway. We weren’t quiet about it, either, not that I heard the neighbors complaining.
My point being, this arrangement I’ve made with Ever is what most men don’t dare dream about or even deserve at age twenty-three. For my species, it’s usually a choice between empty hookups or committed relationships, complete with updating your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram bios, but only after deleting from all of the above any photographic evidence that you ever used your dick. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about commitment. Right now, though, my entire reserve of commitment juice is being poured into becoming a cop. A lieutenant, specifically, just like my older brother, Greer. And eventually a bureau chief like my father, his father before him . . . and back about four generations.
This thing with Ever? It’s neither empty, nor committed. It’s a fucking unicorn. It has made me a believer in life on other planets, Bigfoot and even the Jets winning the Super Bowl again someday. Apart from the Levine Incident, we haven’t spent any time at my place, because Jack or Danika are usually home. Not to mention, I covet this little slice of heaven I’ve carved out, and I worry my roommates will make some crack to Ever about wedding bells—which is never happening—and blow the whole perfect situation to hell. Plus . . . they don’t need to know a damn thing about Ever. She’s mine. I’m hers. We’re ours.
Unofficially, of course.
The deeper I fall into friendship with Charlie, the deeper I sink into the point of no return.
The queen of dirty talk strikes gold with her newest series! A sexy and humorous romp, Disorderly Conduct was an entertaining read from start to finish. It was the perfect blend of humor and Tessa’s signature steam. It was smart and sassy and oh so cute! I had a goofy smile on my face the entire time. It was utterly delicious with a sexy meet cute and a ridiculously swoony grovel at the end. This book was exactly why I love romance!
A sexy meet cute leads to the unicorns of all relationships for Charlie and Ever; a mutually agreed upon and satisfying friends with benefits (heavy on the benefits). Coming from a long line of cops, Charlie has focused everything on getting through the Police Academy. It’s all he’s ever wanted for himself; to make his bureau chief father and lieutenant brother proud. Relationships have never been on his radar. He has no time for them. But when he spots a stunning blonde at a bar giving him the eye, he can’t stay away. And when she murmurs every man’s dream words, “nothing serious,” in his ear? He’s a goner.
Ever comes from a long line of mistresses. Her mother is a serial dater of married men. A relationship is just as much of a pipe dream to her as a reliable and trustworthy man; they don’t exist in her life. Charlie was only supposed to scratch an itch for one month. Sex and nothing else. But then everything changes for Ever and she realizes that she no longer wants the bare minimum. She wants the pipe dream. She wants love. Only problem? Charlie is determined to make her see the error of her ways, even if he has to sabotage her every attempt at seriously dating after she gives him the boot.
I cannot tell you how much I adored Charlie and Ever. Their “relationship” was romantic comedy gold. Charlie is hopelessly lost. He doesn’t want Ever to date but he doesn’t realize that his yearning for her is something beyond just needing their friends with benefits status back. Ever is determined to move on but her feelings for Charlie are a messy distraction. Watching their back and forth was as entertaining as it was frustrating and I loved every second of it.
And did I mention the dirty talk? Because oh my god the dirty talk!!!
Man but I missed Tessa’s hot cops. I haven’t been this enamored with a series since her Line of Duty boys. And with the secondary characters introduced here, I’m already salivating for more.
But as for Ever and Charlie? Loved. Them. Yes, they both made some frustrating decisions and choices that had me wanting to slap them. But considering their age, I found my anger didn’t last. I just loved watching them mess up too much. It was adorable and endearing and frustrating and GAH. Did I mention I loved it?
I love first person POV and being in both Charlie and Ever’s heads was a true treat. Especially Charlie. He reminded me a little bit of Drew from Tangled. His inner monologue was just so much fun. Even if the poor guy was completely clueless at times.
I’m hooked, line and sinker, on this series and I can’t wait for more. If you were a fan of Tessa’s Line of Duty series, this one is simply not to be missed. It was everything I’ve come to love from her and made me giggle and swoon all at once.
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.
Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.
She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eight years and four-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
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