Full Coverage: Boys of Fall (17 page)

O
ut of Bounds
, by Erin Nicholas

A
s star running back
for his high school team, Jackson Brady led a charmed life—until the wild child pushed a little too far. And thanks to snitching goody-two-shoes Annabelle Hartington, Jackson endured scandal, shame, and suspension from the team before the championship game. His ensuing downward spiral would have been far worse if not for Nicholas Carr, his high school coach and mentor.

Now, twelve years later, Jackson doesn’t think twice about returning to Quinn, Texas, to help out when Coach suffers a heart attack. It’s an opportunity to atone for past sins and prove he’s ready to give back to the close-knit community. And he knows just the person to help him—the same woman who brought him down all those years ago. A respected and beloved teacher, if Annabelle is willing to take a chance on him, everyone

will know Jackson’s a new man.

But he’s not the only one who’s changed. Though she’s just as smart as he remembers, Annabelle is also sweet, kind, loyal—and hiding a surprisingly passionate woman behind her staid schoolteacher clothes. Suddenly proving himself to the town might be more difficult than he’d thought. Because while Jackson may have shed most of his wild ways, turns out nothing stirs his inner bad boy quite like Annabelle.

I
llegal Motion
by Erin Nicholas

C
arter Shaw isn’t
a man anyone would mistake for a good guy. He’s has always been intense, up for anything and fearless—on the football field, when wearing his badge and in the bedroom.

But pleasure is never mixed up with love. His unstable upbringing was more than enough to scare him off commitments for good.

Until he meets Lacey Andrews.

A true do-gooder, heart and soul, Lacey is the only woman to ever make Carter wish he was a better man.

It’s probably a good thing his best friend fell in love with her first.

Even when Garrett is shot and dies in the line of duty, Carter knows he can’t give her everything she wants and needs. Until she shows up on his doorstep in nothing but a trench coat and pink lingerie. Now there may be a few things he can offer…

Losing her fiancé has only proven how short life is and Lacey doesn’t want to miss another moment of happiness. Carter might have turned down the chance at the long term threesome she and Garrett wanted, but she knows he hasn’t forgotten the deep friendship or the one hot night the three of them shared. Carter is the only one who can make her feel alive again. And while her heart will always hold Garrett’s memory, Lacey is ready to prove Carter will never have to share her…even with the ghost of another.

T
o read more
about Out of Bounds, Illegal Motion and Erin Nicholas’s other work, visit her website at
www.erinnicholas.com
.

G
oing Long
by Cari Quinn

T
his time
, he’ll need to hit all the right notes to win the woman he’s always loved…

Wade Bennett is used to coming in second to his seemingly perfect older brother. In high school, Colt was a star linebacker while Wade was the punter, an important job without all of the glory. When Charlene Martinez—the only girl Wade ever truly wanted—fell for Colt, Wade decided to take his chances with music and went on the road. Leaving behind his family, his best friend, Rafe, and Charlene, who had feelings for Wade she never allowed herself to feel.

Years in Nashville quickly hardened the dreamy guy who just wanted to sing and hang out with his dog. His success has given him more than enough money, even if he knows he’ll never be able to compete with his hometown hero big brother. But after Coach Carr’s heart attack, Wade comes home to help the man who helped him make the decision to chase his dreams all those years ago.

Now Wade wants to chase a new dream in his old hometown, especially since Charlene is single again after divorcing Colt. And Wade is no longer a boy unwilling to fight for what—and who—he needs.

G
oing
Deep by Cari Quinn

T
wo is hot
…three is explosive.

The last wedding former high school linebacker Colt Bennett attended was his own—to the woman his brother is now marrying. But tequila, romance and regrets make a bad combination, and the next thing he knows, he’s half passed out in his ex’s best friend’s truck.

That Paige Wilcox hates the sight of him is incidental, right?

At least until she calls his best friend and business partner, Drake, to give Colt a ride home, and somehow the three of them end up in her bedroom. There’s absolutely no reason why he should consider having a threesome…

Other than he’s been denying wanting both of them for months.

With Coach Carr on the mend and the rest of his high school football team back home, Colt’s starting to find his true place in his hometown. Except now he’s got even bigger problems than recriminations about the ex he’s long over. He’s falling for her best friend, and maybe even for his own…

Warning: Boys—and a girl—touch in this book. A lot.

T
o read more
about Going Long, Going Deep and Cari Quinn’s other work, visit her website at
www.cariquinn.com
.

T
he forecast in Chance
? Stormy, with a chance of love.

A
very Sparks is
a master at controlling chaos—and she gets plenty of opportunities as fire chief and head of emergency management in her hometown of Chance, Nebraska. The only thing she can’t seem to control are her feelings when she’s around Jake Mitchell, the man who was her first
everything
the night of their high school graduation. But Jake was so quick to leave Chance—and Avery—behind that she swore she’d move on.

W
hile Avery’s
job is to minimize drama, Jake embraces the chaos of an emergency. After enlisting in the Army National Guard, Jake became a nationally recognized leader in disaster recovery. Yet a life on the road has left him restless. So when a class-four tornado wreaks havoc on Chance, he’s eager to return home—and to the woman never far from his mind.

N
ow
, Avery and Jake must team up to help their hometown weather a siege of violent storms. But it’s clear to them both that nature isn’t the only force they’ll have to reckon with. Will Avery and Jake’s whirlwind love affair be an all-new disaster—or can they recover from their stormy past to build a future together?

* * *

“
I
’ve got it
.” Avery turned toward the shelves and stepped on Jake’s foot.

“Ow.”

God, this was so much—too much—like last time.

Except this time they were completely alone.

“Well, get out of the way!” She shoved the box onto the shelf, her elbow hitting his arm. “This shed is huge. There are a hundred other places you could stand.”

“I’m trying to help.”

She gave a short laugh. “You’re trying to drive me crazy.”

“By supplying a source of light and offering to lift a box for you?”

“By standing so close.” She put her elbow into his side and pushed at the same time.

Of course, he barely moved.

“I’m being a gentleman.” But he sounded like he was smiling.

She didn’t dare risk looking at him to confirm it. Because he was still so close.

“You haven’t been a gentleman toward me a day in your life.”

She was still facing the shelves but she felt him move closer yet.

“I protest that statement,” he told her.

He was directing the light at the shelves in front of them. She was grateful that he wasn’t trying to see her expression. With the light trained on the shelves, she could see that the bin directly in front of him on the second shelf was labeled “storm supplies.”

But suddenly getting into those supplies was far less important than the conversation with Jake.

“You protest based on what?” she asked.

“On the fact that I took you to your first and only Prom and made sure you had an amazing night.”

He had done that. She could still remember everything about that night—her dress, his tux, the way he’d been so attentive and had made her laugh, the way he’d danced with her, holding her close and making her feel safe, the sweet kiss on the lips he’d given her when he’d taken her home. Ten years later and she could conjure every detail of that fairytale night. The night she’d started falling in love with him.

“And on the fact that on the night of our graduation I was very sweet and made sure you came first,” he said.

Avery actually gasped at that. And she wasn’t a gasper. But that was so…in your face. Even for Jake. Jake teased and flirted and insinuated, but he’d never come right out and talked about them having sex that night.

And at that simple mention, her entire body heated and seemed to strain toward him, ready to do it all again, just like that.

Damn him.

“Getting me drunk on peach schnapps and out of my panties makes you a gentleman?” She tried to focus on the sarcasm rather than the memory of his hands slipping under her sundress, his big palms sliding over her thighs and up to her panties before tugging them back down her legs and tossing them over his shoulder with a glint of mischief and affection in his eyes.

She had to clear her throat after that particular memory reel played through her mind. “I don’t think that’s the typical definition,” she said when she was sure her voice would sound calm. “It’s sad that you’re still so hung up on that night.”

He chuckled and the sound tickled over her like he was running his fingertips up her arm and down her back.

And she knew that he knew she was full of crap.

He wasn’t the one hung up on that night. That was her. That was all her.

But no one had ever affected her like Jake did. And she didn’t even like him.

Avery immediately took that back. She did like him. She just didn’t want to like him.

She wanted to be upset and angry at him for leaving. For not even telling her he was leaving. And she was. That had hurt. But she was most angry with herself. She’d looked up into his eyes when he’d asked her to Prom and had immediately started thinking that it was the start to the future of her dreams. After Prom they’d spent time together after school and on the weekends. He’d never called her his girlfriend or said they were dating, but it felt like dating to her. And she’d been giddy. Jake was an amazing guy, every girl wanted him, and he’d chosen her. But more than getting a great guy who treated her like a princess, being with Jake also meant that she would be a part of her dream family. Jake’s mom and dad were like second parents to her. She loved Jake’s mom with her whole heart. If she and Jake were together forever, she and Heidi and Wes would be together forever too.

It had seemed so perfect. So right. Like destiny.

And after he left, clearly not head over heels and ready to walk down the aisle with her, she’d been humiliated and hurt. She’d finally confessed all of her mixed up emotions in a letter. She’d apologized to him for getting wrapped up in the imaginary happily ever after and for assuming things she shouldn’t have.

She’d hoped that he’d believe that her feelings had been all about his family. She hoped he’d believe that she wasn’t in love with him and she was moving on.

She’d hoped that she would believe those things too.

But now, ten years later, she was still definitely hung up on that night.

“Don’t feel bad for me, Avery Jane,” Jake said. “The memories of that night kept me company for a good long time in basic training.” He leaned in closer and dropped his voice. “And because I know you’re clinging to that excuse for how you acted, I won’t point out that you weren’t all that drunk.”

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