Saturday 22 October 2016

Book Blitz: Forget Me Always by Sara Wolf

Forget Me Always Banner

Love Me Never
 
Love Me Never (Lovely Vicious, #1)
by Sara Wolf
Now 99 cents!
 
Go get your copy today!
 
 
Read the book that Kirkus Review called: “A complex, witty page-turner, ideal for YA fans of scandal and romance.”


Seventeen-year-old Isis Blake hasn’t fallen in love in three years, nine weeks, and five days, and after what happened last time, she intends to keep it that way. Since then she’s lost eighty-five pounds, gotten four streaks of purple in her hair, and moved to Buttcrack-of-Nowhere, Ohio, to help her mom escape a bad relationship. All the girls in her new school want one thing―Jack Hunter, the Ice Prince of East Summit High. Hot as an Armani ad, smart enough to get into Yale, and colder than the Arctic, Jack Hunter’s never gone out with anyone. Sure, people have seen him downtown with beautiful women, but he’s never given high school girls the time of day. Until Isis punches him in the face. Jack’s met his match. Suddenly everything is a game. The goal: Make the other beg for mercy. The game board: East Summit High. The reward: Something neither of them expected. Previously published as Lovely Vicious, this fully revised and updated edition is full of romance, intrigue, and laugh-out-loud moments. The Lovely Vicious Series continues: Forget Me Always Remember Me Forever – Summer 2017


Forget Me Always
 
Forget Me Always (Lovely Vicious, #2) by Sara Wolf
 


All warfare is deception. Even in high school. It’s been nineteen days since Isis Blake forgot about him. The boy she can’t quite remember. She’s stuck in the hospital with a turban-size bandage on her head, more Jell-o than a human being should ever face, and a tiny bit of localized amnesia. Her only goal? To get out of this place before she becomes a complete nutjob herself. But as Isis’s memories start to return, she realizes there’s something important there at the edges of her mind. Something that may mean the difference between life and death. Something about Sophia, Jack’s girlfriend. Jack Hunter―the “Ice Prince”―remembers everything. Remembers Isis’s purple hair and her smart-ass mouth. Remembers that for a little while, Isis made him feel human. She made him feel. She burned a hole in the ice…and it’s time to freeze back up. Boys like him don’t deserve girls like her. Because Jack is dangerous. And that danger might be the only thing protecting her from something far more threatening. Her past.   Previously published as Savage Delight, this fully revised and updated edition is full of hilarity, drama, and heartbreak. The Lovely Vicious Series continues: Remember Me Forever – Summer 2017

 
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Sara Wolf

Sara Wolf lives in San Diego, California, where she burns instead of tans. When she isn’t pouring her allotted lifeforce into writing, she’s reading, accidentally burning houses down whilst baking, or making faces at her highly appreciative cat.  


Read below to read an excerpt from Forget Me Always:
“Are you all right, sir?” I look up at the voice. A bellboy smiles cheerily at me. He has no idea who I am or what I’ve been through, yet he has the nerve to smile. It’s been nineteen days since Isis Blake forgot about me, and he has the nerve to ask if I’m all right. I light another cigarette. “Get out of my face.” His expression falls, and he backs away. “S-Sure. Have a nice night.” I scoff and lean against a pillar of the grand marble roundabout of the Hilton. I watch ridiculously fancy black cars shuttle in and out, dropping off equally puffed-up old rich people. Bellboys and concierges scurry around, calling taxis and directing valets. Revolving glass doors with gold accents constantly whirr and hiss over the mindless chatter. Women shriek with laughter, men guffaw; all of them are oblivious, happy idiots. I can see the truth in their clothes and posture—five of the men are cheating on their wives. Two of them with far younger women, one of them exclusively with prostitutes. He not-so-subtly taps the ass of a passing blonde in a peacoat. She hides her grimace with an actress’s grace. When she sees me, she clips over in her heels with a mildly happier smile. “Jaden! Oh my God! It’s been forever!” “Three months, Lily,” I correct. Jaden is the name I use for my escorting work, and I’ve never let the other escorts I’ve met in passing know my real name. “Three months, forever, same difference.” She laughs. Perfume wafts off her, the expensive, strong kind. The kind you buy when you have to cover up the pervasive smell of sex. “Finished with work?” I ask, and jerk my head at the man still watching her lecherously, his wife oblivious and clinging to his arm. Lily sighs. “Yeah, for the night. I’m about to head back to my place. What about you?” “Mayor’s daughter.” I motion to my tuxedo. “Winter ball.” “Bet you were the hottest guy there.” “It was a Catholic girls’ school.” “And the hottest guy she’ll ever have.” Lily is just a few years older than me, but she’s been in the Rose Club far longer. Lily isn’t her real name, just like Jaden isn’t mine. I don’t know her in real life, and she doesn’t know me. But sometimes we work in the same hotels, and she’s one of the few girls in the Rose Club who isn’t annoyingly vapid. So we talk. “Seriously.” Lily elbows me. “I’ve seen her. She looks like an inbred Pomeranian on her best days.” “Now now.” I blow smoke into the sky. “Let’s not be nasty. She paid good money. And I respect and appreciate money.” Lily watches my face carefully as she waits for a taxi to cycle past. She knits her thin brows. “What about your own prom?” she asks. “What about it?” “Are you going to that? Do you have a girlfriend? Or a date?” I took Sophia to my junior prom. Sophia, the hospital-ridden girl I’d known since middle school—my first infatuation and first real friend. But it’s not Sophia who pops into my head right now. An image grows strong of Isis, dressed up in some silk dress. Red? Or blue? Purple, probably, to match her hair. She’d dance and drink and start at least four fights. It would be awful. It would be hilarious. I smirk at the thought, but it quickly fades. She’s in the hospital, too. And thanks to that scumbag called her mother’s boyfriend, she doesn’t remember me anymore. It’s been almost three weeks since she asked who I was, with that blithe smile on, and only now have I really started to believe it. “No. I’m not going to the senior one. It’s pointless. I’m graduating in five months, anyway. High school barely matters anymore.” She plucks the cigarette from my lips and grinds it under her heel. “When did you start smoking?” “When did you decide to start mothering me?” I ask. “It’s not good for you.” “Neither is sex work.” Lily glowers. “Escorting. And we both have our reasons for doing that. You don’t have a reason to smoke. Unless you want to die early and painfully.” “And if I did, it would be none of your business.” Lily flinches, as if I’d slapped her. She hails a passing cab, then pauses in its open door to look back at me. “You’re one of us, Jaden,” she murmurs. “Society looks down on us. Customers objectify us. All we have is each other. So it is my business.” She pulls out her Rose Club card—white with pale gold stripes—and hands it to me. “If you ever need anything, or if you wanna talk, call me.” She’s gone before I can throw it back at her, gone before the gaping chasm in my chest has the chance to bleed. I shake it off. I’m Jack Hunter. No one makes me bleed. Except one girl, at a party, nearly five months ago. I light another cigarette to cover the stench of weakness emanating off me. The women at the hotel’s entrance are eyeing me. If I so much as blink in their direction, they’ll accost me, flirting with tired tactics and worn eagerness. They are just as bad as the men. They covet things that look nice. And when they can’t have what they covet, they squabble, quickly turning on each other in sickening displays of predatory possessiveness. I consider throwing Lily’s card in a nearby puddle. She has no idea what I’m going through. I have no idea what I’m going through. She can’t help me. Besides, her help is offered solely because she has designs on me. Even an idiot can see that much. Not everything with a vagina likes you, dipshit! I whirl around at the sound of the voice. It’s so clear, so perfectly loud and obnoxious, that it has to be her. But no purple streaks bob out of the crowd to greet me. No warm brown eyes crinkle with a smirk. I fall against the pillar again and laugh, putting my head in my hands as reality slips through my fingers. Get it together, Jack Hunter. You’re going to Harvard in seven months. Your mother is waiting for you to come home now. Sophia is counting on you. Her surgery is imminent. You can’t go crazy. People are depending on you. You have a life to live, and no matter how much you wish on stars, no matter how much you bargain with God or with the doctors, that life does not include Isis Blake any longer. You’re a stranger to her. The hole she burned in the ice must be filled. There is no warmth anymore. You barely tasted it, barely felt it on your skin. It brushed against you for a single second. Something so small should not retain this much weight. It is illogical. You are illogical for letting it affect you so much. There is no warmth, Jack Hunter. Not for the likes of you. You have blood on your hands. You have duty, and guilt, and you can’t escape that. No one can help you escape. Not even her. “Jaden!” A shrill voice makes me look up. Cynthia, the mayor’s daughter, waves me over to the limo. Her dark hair is over-curled and looks ridiculous. Her pink dress is too tight and too bright. Her circle of simpering friends have dropped off their purses and retouched their makeup, and now they’re on their way to an after-party. We’re on our way. I’m being paid to be one of them, after all. I stub my cigarette out and put on my best smile.


Friday 21 October 2016

Cover Reveal: Gardenia by Kelsey Sutton

Today, I am SO EXCITED to share the cover reveal for Gardenia by Kelsey Sutton. Take a look at this beautiful creature below!
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Quote from Kelsey's Publisher: "Given the setting of the story and the proximity of Ivy's home to a train depot, we landed on the headlights of an oncoming train as the perfect visual metaphor for Ivy's ability to know when she will die."


About the Book: Seventeen-year-old Ivy Erickson has one month, twenty-seven days, four hours, fifty-nine minutes, and two seconds to live.Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been able to see countdown clocks over everyone’s heads indicating how long before they will die. She can’t do anything about anyone else’s, nor can she do anything about her own, which will hit the zero hour before she even graduates high school. A life cut short is tragic, but Ivy does her best to make the most of it. She struggles emotionally with her deep love for on-again, off-again boyfriend Myers Patripski. She struggles financially, working outside of school to help her mom and her sister. And she struggles to cope with the murder of her best friend, another life she couldn’t save. Vanessa Donovan was killed in the woods, and everyone in town believes Ivy had something to do with it. Then more girls start disappearing. Ivy tries to put her own life in order as she pieces together the truth of who ended Vanessa’s. To save lives and for her own sanity. The clock is always ticking. And Ivy’s only hope is to expose the truth before it runs out completely.

About the Author


kelsey
Kelsey Sutton is the author of teen novels SOME QUIET PLACE and GARDENIA. She is also the author of two novels for middle grade readers, THE LONELY ONES and BENJAMIN. She lives in Minnesota, where she received a dual bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from Bemidji State University. She is currently working on a master’s degree from Hamline University. Her work has received an Independent Publisher Book Award, an IndieFab Award, and was selected as a Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013. When not writing, Kelsey can be found watching too much Netflix, ordering a mocha at the nearest coffee shop, or browsing a bookstore.

You can like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @KelseyJSutton.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6425045.Kelsey_Sutton
Twitter: @KelseyJSutton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kelsey-Sutton-139415419471775/
Website: www.kelseysuttonbooks.com


Blog Tour: The Oakville Series by Kathy-Jo Reinhart

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The Oakville Series (Books 1 - 5) by Kathy-Jo Reinhart
Genre:  Romance

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Six years ago, Amber fled her hometown and family heartbroken and humiliated. Now, after walking in on her fiancé holding another woman’s legs in the air and screaming her name, Amber is headed back home to Oakville, ready for a fresh start in the town she’s always loved.
Determined to get back to her life, Amber gets a waitressing job at KC’s Bar & Grille. After a few weeks of working there, she finally sets in to a happy routine with help from her new friend, Holly. That is, until she meets KC, the owner, her boss, and the man who just happens to be the reason she left so many years ago. The man she never got over.

Enter Kyle. He’s sexy, charming, the lead singer of a small town band, and owner of KC’s Bar & Grille. When Amber left all those years ago, he became a shell of the man he was. Broken, confused, and desperate, Kyle began his new life where nothing mattered aside from music and women, sometimes more than one at a time. Finally realizing that he hated the person he was becoming, he moves back to Oakville with his band to focus on the bar. Still playing a few small gigs here and there, Kyle and his band return home after a month only to walk straight into Amber, the girl who broke his heart and left without a word.

With a short, heated conversation revealing that it was all just a misunderstanding, Kyle and Amber are determined to start over again and let the past stay in the past. This is the second chance neither of them dreamed they would get and they aren’t going to waste it. Unfortunately, living in this small town isn’t as safe as it would seem. With people determined to tear them apart and old flings resurfacing, will Amber and Kyle be able to hold onto their second chance? Or will it all slip through their fingers?

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After six years of being apart, Amber and Kyle finally found each other again, only to be ripped apart once more by a force they couldn't control. After a tragic accident that almost takes Amber's life, she's left in a hospital without any memory. She doesn't know who she is, let alone the man that she married and has loved since childhood.

When Amber finally wakes from her coma, Kyle feels like he can breathe again. The hope that he has held onto every day he has sat in the hospital with her has pulled through. They can now push Beau behind them and finally get the happily ever after they deserve. Only, Amber has no idea who he is.

Feeling his hope wither away once more, Kyle sets out and makes it his personal duty to help her remember, or make her fall in love with him again. After all, they have a connection that can pull through anything, and will.

Is their love really enough to conquer even the most difficult and life-altering situations?

Trust is lost, promises are broken, and hearts are shattered.

Will Kyle and Amber be able to withstand the changes ahead of them, or will it tear them apart for good?

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Holly Anders was abandoned by her mother at birth. Growing up shuffled around from one foster home to another, she never thought she’d be loved. When she married Ray right out of high school, she thought she’d finally have the perfect fairy tale life, but it quickly turned into her worst nightmare.

Finally able to find the strength, she runs as far and as fast as she can away from the nightmare, finding herself in the small town of Oakville, where she begins her new life. The last thing on Holly’s mind is dating or men. She’s not anywhere close to being ready to trust another man. Sometimes she wonders if she’ll ever be. She was damaged when she met Ray, but he broke her — maybe forever.

Paul Walters spent his first sixteen years fearing his father’s beatings, but taking them in order to spare his mother from as much of the abuse as possible. When an unspeakable tragedy strikes, he leaves his hometown and heads for Los Angeles. Guilt and fear cause him to spend the next few years drowning his sorrows in booze, drugs, and random women. He refuses to allow himself to get close to anyone; the fear of becoming a monster like his father keeping him from believing a relationship with a woman is possible.

Things begin to change when Paul meets Kyle and sees something in him that reminds him of himself. They quickly become friends after forming a band with two other guys. Paul realizes he’s missed being part of a family. Deciding they don’t like the path they’re on, they leave L.A. for Kyle’s hometown of Oakville. Paul is ready to start over, but he still vows never to fall in love.
When Paul and Holly meet, the chemistry is undeniable. Is it possible for two people to find the courage to let someone in again after they’ve had their hearts and souls shattered by those they loved and trusted most?

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AMAZON US     AMAZON UK     NOOK

 

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Can opposites really attract? Chelsie Amell is a shy wholesome girl looking for the forever kind of love. Angel Walker is a guilt ridden man whore who is not capable of love. Both are wildly attracted to each other, but do everything in their power to fight it.Will their pasts leave a barrier between them they can't cross? Or will they climb it together and over come it all?

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MARCUS and Taryn Winters along with their six year old son Chase, have a wonderful life. They are ready to expand their perfect little family, but for some reason it's not happening as easily as they think it should. A trip to the doctor’s office delivers a crushing blow to Taryn. No one is prepared for the news she receives.  With the help of their friends Marcus and Taryn try to deal the best they can with the life changing event that’s taken place.
After tragedy leaves Marcus and Chase forever changed, they need to find a way to piece their lives back together. Both of them are spiraling out of control. When Marcus gets called in to speak with Chase’s teacher his world is again turned upside down
 
LEXI has spent years trying to keep her past where it belongs. In the past. After her husband left her for her best friend she moved to Oakville hoping to start over. She starts to notice problems with one of her students and calls in his father for a conference. The minute she meets Marcus an intense need to help him takes over. She will fight harder than she ever has to bring Marcus and Chase back to life.

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After growing up in Saranac Lake, a small town in upstate NY, Kathy-Jo Reinhart returned to her birth place and where she spent her summers with her grandparents, St. Petersburg, Florida, after graduating High School. The sub zero climate and piles of snow definitely weren’t a loss, in her opinion, and this is where she still resides with her Husband of fifteen years and their eleven year old son, who they lovingly refer to as their miracle baby. A name righteously earned after a very difficult and scary pregnancy with 7 1/2 months on complete bed rest.

By day, she works as an Office Manager for a construction company started by her grandfather and uncle. Like most people, she has a love hate relationship with her job, but cherishes all the years she was able to work side by side with her grandfather before he passed away.

Writing has always been something that she has loved. In school, creative writing was her favorite class. Writing a book was something she had always wanted to do, but was too afraid she didn't have what it took to make it happen. After going from working sixty hours a week to twenty, she found herself with a lot of extra time on her hands and decided it was time to take the leap. Crossing her fingers and closing her eyes, she jumped into creating the Oakville series and hasn’t looked back.

The first five star review she received after First Love, the first book in the Oakville series, was published, left her speechless, overwhelmed with emotion, and so blown away that someone really liked what she had written. Her initial fears seemed to calm and reassured her that others love her writing just as much as she loves doing it. How it will all turn out, still remains a mystery, but she’s having a blast seeing where these characters will take her.

When she isn’t spending time with her characters, she enjoys reading, spending time with her family, scrapbooking, and doing ancestry research.
 
FACEBOOK      TWITTER     WEBSITE

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Thursday 20 October 2016

Cover Reveal: Grand Slam: The Boys of Summer by Heidi McLaughlin

 
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Grand Slam:  The Boys of Summer
by Heidi McLaughlin releases on May 23rd!


Pre-order Available NOW!


 
Coming... May, 2017


The third novel in New York Times bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin's Boys of Summer baseball series.


A beast at the plate, Travis Kidd is a superstar for the Boston Renegades. But when baseball isn't occupying his time, Travis - named Boston's Most Eligible Bachelor - is known as a ladies' man.


Saylor Blackwell knows sports. As a public relations specialists, her focus is on the athletes. The hours are long, the job stressful, and she's prohibited from dating any of the overly friendly athletes, but the result is what matters - she's financially able to care for her daughter.


When a drunken night spent with Travis threatens that, Saylor knows she's made a mistake. Unfortunately, when he's accused of a horrible crime, it causes a PR nightmare and forces Saylor to come to his rescue. But when Saylor's ex comes back demanding custody, it might up to Travis to save her right back...

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GRAND SLAM
The Boys of Summer
© Heidi McLaughlin, 2016


Chapter 1 – Travis


    The one I’m eyeing for the night bends at her waist and lines her pool stick up with the cue ball. She slowly pulls the wooden rod through her fingers, until the felt top finally connects. The hard white plastic ball rolls toward her target, hitting it perfectly and stalling as the blue-striped ball rolls into the pocket. I let out a massive sigh and lean on my stick, waiting my turn. I should’ve known better when she approached me, asking if I wanted to play a game or two of billiards with her. I know better than to let a good-looking woman hustle me out of money but I wasn’t thinking with my right head. I never am, and once again I’m getting my balls get busted, no pun intended, by a pool shark.
    “Sweetheart, are you going to let me play? My balls are getting lonely.” If she thinks I’m crude, she doesn’t say anything. In fact, she looks at me from over her shoulder and winks before shimmying her ass toward my crotch. My internal groan is epic. I’ve been watching her bend, lick her lips, show me her ample cleavage, and shake her ass for almost an hour. Not to mention, she brushes against me each time she passes me. And the touching isn’t subtle. I can read her loud and clear, all the way from her tight as-sin jeans to her plunging neckline.
“I can’t help it if you suck.”
“Do you?” I ask, stepping in behind her. My crotch is lined up perfectly with her ass, earning me another hair-tossing look over her shoulder.
She stands and turns to face me, resting her ass on the edge of the table. “What do you have in mind?” Her finger trails down the front of my shirt until she reaches the buckle of my belt. The tug is slight, but definitely felt. Message received loud and clear.
“What’s your name?”
“Are names important?”
“Of course. When I demand that you come for me, I need to know what to call you.”
“Demand?” she questions.
“I’m greedy like that,” I tell her, placing my cue stick against the table as I step closer to her. I lean in and try to get a whiff of her perfume, but a mix between the stale air from the bar and the beer on her breath makes it hard to tell what she’s wearing. I do love a woman who takes the time to dabble the perfect scent on her skin though.  
“Blue.”
“My balls aren’t blue, darling, and haven’t been in years.”
“No, my name is Blue.”
“That’s a very unique name,” I say as my hand rests on her hip.
“What can I say? I’m a unique woman, Travis.”
Ah, she knows my name. That’s usually how things go for me. Rarely am I given the opportunity to introduce myself. Everyone knows who I am, and while I enjoy the fruits of my labor, sometimes anonymity would be nice. One day, I’d like to talk to a woman who doesn’t know that I’m Travis Kidd, right fielder for the Boston Renegades and one of the town’s most eligible bachelors. “You know who I am?”
“Doesn’t everyone? I’m a Boston girl; I know my Renegades.”
I nod and reach for my beer. It’s the off-season, and technically I shouldn’t be here. I usually head south for the winter but opted to stay home this time. After a long season, one that saw my former managers die and one of my closest friends on the team become a dad to twins, I thought I’d stay around and see what the winter had to offer. Aside from the cold, I haven’t found much, except Bruins hockey and Celtics basketball. Those games have been the highlight of my time off.
The pickings for women have been slim. Without trying to bag on the female population, it’s evident that they’re seasonal as well. Right now, the puck bunnies, gridiron groupies, and court whores are in full effect, and the cleat chasers are resting like the rest of the baseball world. Maybe I should’ve been a dual-sport athlete. This way I would’ve had the best of both worlds.
“Travis?”
“What?” I ask, mentally shaking the cobwebs out.
“Where’d you go? It’s your turn?” Blue nods toward the table, and I look over her shoulder to see the cue ball sitting there.
“Why don’t you help me?” I know how to play the game of pool, but since she seems to be a pro, why shouldn’t she show me? I would’ve happily slid up behind her and taught her how to handle her stick but she took the fun out of it.
Instead, she’s off to my side and leaning into me, giving me a perfect sideways glance down her shirt. I smirk, ignoring everything she tells me, and watch as her mounds of flesh move each time her hand does. They’re real, that’s for sure. None of that fake silicon shit on this chick.
“And that’s how it’s done,” she says, righting herself. She continues to slightly lean over the table though, jutting her chest out for me to ogle. I cock my head to the side and wink before taking aim at the cue on the table.
My first shot goes in, and the second quickly follows. I line up the third, and that is when I see a raven-haired beauty nursing a drink at the bar.
Saylor Blackwell is off limits to anyone her agency represents. That includes me. Although I wish it didn’t. Saylor is the one I would’ve switched agents for if she told me to, but I fucked that up much I like I screw everything up. When she needed me, I wasn’t there. And I haven’t spoken to her since.
It’s my dumb luck that she’s sitting at the bar with her long, slender legs crossed, and she’s dressed like she recently got off work. Her eyes are set on the television, ignoring the gaggle of men staring at her. I remember that she was a hard nut to crack back when I wanted to know her better. I can’t imagine what she’s like now that she’s more successful.
My last shot is sunk into the corner pocket. “Eight ball, right side,” I say, nodding in the same direction I plan to send the black ball in order to finish this game. I’m in a rush now, eager to speak with Saylor. I know I shouldn’t but I can’t help myself.
“Where ya going?” Blue calls out.
“To the bar. Rack ‘em,” I tell her. It’s not a lie. I am going to the bar but with the intention of speaking to another woman. I’m smooth though, and I can easily play it off while I order another round of drinks.
“Two please.” I put up two fingers as I motion toward the bartender. Leaning in, I know I’m blocking Saylor’s view of the television, which is all in my game plan.
“Hey Saylor.”
“Travis,” she says coldly. We have a history. A small one, but it’s there. I often remember the night we spent together and the regret that was on her face when we were done. I had never been kicked out of an apartment before that night. Usually, once I’m satisfied, I leave. With Saylor, everything was backwards. It’s like she used me to scratch an itch, and once I took care of that, she didn’t need me anymore. “What brings you in?”
She looks everywhere but at me. “I’m meeting a client.”
“And nursing your what?” I take her drink from her hand and sniff. “Scotch? When did you start drinking the hard shit?”
That gets her to look at me.  Her glare is deadly as her blue eyes penetrate into mine. “As if you know anything about me.”
“I know enough.”
“You don’t know shit, Travis Kidd. Go back to your booty call. She’s looking at me like she’s ready for a cat fight, and I assure you, you’re not worth fighting for.”
Saylor turns, giving me the cold shoulder. If I weren’t so stunned by her outburst, which I did not deserve, I’d tease her. But I have a feeling that there’s something bothering her, and I’m the last person she needs making shit worse.
With the bottles of beer between my fingers, I go back to the pool table where Blue is indeed throwing daggers at Saylor’s back.
“Down, kitty. She works for my agent.” I run my hand down her arm, trying to diffuse the situation. Jealous women usually turn me off, and this should be my sign to hit the road except I’m an idiot and want to stay mostly so I can watch Saylor.
Taking Blue by her hand, I lead us over to the stools, and I sit down, pulling her between my legs. My hand is planted firmly on her leg right under her butt check. It’s a risky move, especially with all the cameras around, but I don’t care right now. It’s the off-season. I’m allowed to have a little bit of fun.
“You have nothing to be jealous over,” I tell her. If anything, I’m trying to appease her.
“Okay.”
“We good? Wanna go back to kicking my ass at pool?”
She looks over at the table and nods. “You rack, and I’ll break.” Blue saunters away, giving me space to watch Saylor, who turns and makes eye contact with me. I wish I could tell what she’s thinking. Is she second-guessing her harsh words? I am. I want to go back over and offer to pick her tab. Or ask how she’s getting home. It’s late, and the roads are shit. If she’s driving, she shouldn’t be drinking. She has a kid that depends on her.
“I’m ready,” Blue says, thrusting the stick in my face. Her words catch me off-guard. Is she ready to play another game or two of pool? I hope so because I have no intention of leaving as long as Saylor is at the bar. Or is she ready for me to fuck her and never ask for her number? Because that is bound to happen as well.
I break, sending the balls off in every direction. Four drop. Two of each giving me the choice of what I want to be. Blue is yammering in my ear about the set-up and which would be the best. Her angles only work for her though, and I see that I can run the table on her if I line up correctly.
“We should’ve bet,” I tell her as I walk around the table.
“I’d hate to hustle you out of your money, Travis.”
I laugh off her comment and proceed to clear the table. She huffs when the eight ball falls into the designated pocket.
“Well would you look at that,” I say, taking a bow. Blue pushes me lightly and falls into my arms. Her lips are on mine before I can push her away, and doing so now would be embarrassing for her so I kiss her back and find myself opening my eyes to watch Saylor watch me.
As soon as I pull away, Saylor is sliding off the bar stool and heading toward the door.
“Be right back. I need some fresh air.” A true gentleman would’ve invited his lady friend outside, but that is not who I am.
“Do you need a ride home?” I ask, as soon as I see Saylor standing near the curb. “And what happened to your client?”
“He canceled.”
It didn’t strike me as odd earlier when she said she was meeting a client, but it does now. I’ve never met anyone from the agency at a bar, let alone this late at night.
“How about that ride home?”
“Travis,” she draws out my name and then drops her head into her hands. Without thinking, I pull her into my side. “Come on, Saylor. It’s a ride. Nothing else.”
“What the hell is going on? I thought you were taking me home?” Blue speaks loud enough for everyone on the block to hear.
My arm drops, and Saylor steps away from me. I turn at the sound of Blue’s voice behind me.
“I’ll be in. Give me a minute.” I smile, hoping to placate Blue but it doesn’t work.
“I see some things never change,” Saylor says as she steps off the curb and waves at a cab only to be passed by.
Shaking my head, I push my hands into my pockets for a bit of warmth. If I knew Saylor would be out here when I returned, I’d run in and grab my jacket. “It’s not like that.”
“What, do you like her or something?” The sound of Blue’s voice grates on my nerves. Saylor looks over my shoulder and rolls her eyes.
“Or something,” I say, without taking my eyes off Saylor.
As soon as a taxi pulls up to the curb, Saylor is sliding in.
I make a split second decision to get in with her, but not before Blue yells at me. “Where the fuck are you going?”
I answer her by slamming the door shut. I have Blue on the outside screaming and Saylor looking at me like she’s going to kill me. She opens the door, and I hear, “Fuck you, Travis Kidd. You’ll pay for this.” And before I realize what’s happening, Saylor is out of the car and the cab is speeding down the road.


**Also Available on Heidi’s Website here:  http://heidimclaughlin.com/grand-slam-1/**

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About the Author

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Heidi McLaughlin
 
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont, with her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home is an over-hyper Beagle/Jack Russell, Buttercup and a Highland West/Mini Schnauzer, JiLL and her brother, Racicot.


When she isn't writing one of the many stories planned for release, you'll find her sitting court-side during either daughter's basketball games


Heidi's first novel, Forever My Girl, is currently in production to be a major motion picture.


NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author




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