Red Zone: Boys of Fall (23 page)

And what if the spark that flared so hot between them still exists?

To read more about Free Agent and Mari Carr’s other work, visit her website at
www.maricarr.com
.

Out of Bounds by Erin Nicholas

As 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.

Illegal Motion by Erin Nicholas

Carter 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.

To read more about Out of Bounds, Illegal Motion and Erin Nicholas’s other work, visit her website at
www.erinnicholas.com
.

Please enjoy this excerpt from Illegal Motion.

He crossed the space between them before he’d really thought about what he was doing. He grasped her by the upper arm and started for the door. She tripped along on her heels, trying to hold the front of the trench coat shut and keep up with his long strides at the same time.

The sound of someone clearing their throat, made him stop.

Belatedly, he remembered that there were two more people in the room.

He looked at Ken and Bridgett. “Do you want to press charges?”

They were both staring at Lacey and him with wide eyes.

Bridgett shook her head slowly. Ken said, “Uh, no, we’re good.”

Apparently they believed that Lacey was here to see Carter after all.

“Fine.”

He started for the door again, not trusting himself to look at Lacey when they were this close.

It was bad enough that he could smell her.

She smelled like jasmine.

She’d always smelled like jasmine.

He marched her through the Logans’ front door, down the steps, across the grass, and up the porch steps to his own front door.

He paused and dug for his keys, still holding her arm.

“Where are we—” she started.

He unlocked the door and shoved it open, nudging her through.

“Oh.”

“You almost got it right.” He was amazed that his voice sounded as calm as it did.

“Oops.”

He hit the switch on the wall, bathing the foyer in a soft light.

And finally looked at Lacey.

She gave him a small, wobbly smile.

Fuck
.

He wanted her with every fiber of his being.

“What are you doing here?”

He realized he hadn’t let go of her yet, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it now either. He was only holding her arm and it wasn’t even skin to skin, but he hadn’t touched her in twelve months. Not even when they’d both been grieving Garrett. The last time he’d touched her had definitely been skin to skin and it had changed his life.

Yeah, he wasn’t quite up to letting her go just yet.

Then she licked her lips. And Carter realized not letting go of her was a huge error in judgment.

Everything in his body tightened and he had to consciously keep his hand from squeezing her arm too hard.

“I had to see you,” she said. Her voice wavered slightly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have surprised you.”

“Or my neighbors.”

She nodded. “Right.”

“So why did you? Why didn’t you call?”

They were standing too close. He was touching her, smelling her, feeling the warmth of her body reaching out to him.

He hadn’t been this close to her since that night. That night. The best, most horrible, most amazing, awful night of his life.

“I didn’t think you would want me to come,” she said softly. “I thought showing up without warning you was a better idea.”

“I don’t like surprises.” That was an understatement.

“But you won’t throw me out.”

Her voice wasn’t wavering now. She wasn’t blushing now. She was meeting his eyes directly. Like she knew him.

And she did.

Because no, he wouldn’t throw her out. Or, more accurately, he
couldn’t
.

Not because he was a cop and his job was to serve and protect. Not because he was a nice guy—definitely not that. But because he was a selfish ass who wanted her more than he wanted his sanity.

Apparently.

He turned and pressed her back against the door and moved in until he could feel the length of her body against his.

“Say no if you’re going to say no,” he said gruffly.

Her breath caught, her pupils dilated and her lips parted.

“Lace. This is your last chance.”

But she didn’t say no.

She didn’t say yes.

What she said was much, much worse.

“Please, Carter.”

Going Long by Cari Quinn

This 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.

Going Deep by Cari Quinn

Two 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.

Please enjoy this excerpt from Going Deep.

“You weren’t planning on defying us and going out on a ride, were you, baby?”

“
Defying
you?” Paige’s voice was as shaky as her body was burning up. From desire and irritation, from chagrin and defiance. God, so many emotions were pinging around inside her right now. “What am I, a horse you need to train?”

“No, you’re a smart, sexy, funny woman who makes us crazy.” Drake’s teeth skimmed the frenetic beat under her skin and liquid pooled between her legs. “It’s not safe,” he said again, and she closed her eyes before he could see her roll them. “Not just because of coyotes, but there are snakes and other animals in the underbrush. All kinds of things to make a horse jump.”

“I wouldn’t have gone far—”

“Not at all. Do you understand me?” He turned her toward him and cupped her chin with one hand. The other palmed her breast through her nearly sheer gown. “We won’t risk you. Or allow you to risk yourself.”

“I’m not some rube. I’ve lived here for six years,” she began, finding it hard to speak while his calloused thumb tormented her tight nipple through the material.

“Six years.” He shook his head, laughing softly. But his eyes were pure heat in the wavering light from the lantern she held in a death grip. “Six years isn’t long enough to know this land. To understand what you’re dealing with. Not out there, and not with us.” He backed her up against the rough-hewn wood of the stall and hiked up her leg, wrapping it around his waist. His rigid cock nestled into the triangle of her legs, pressing insistently. “You really want to argue with two cowboys who could put you over our laps and spank your ass raw?”

Distantly, she was aware of Cupcake rustling behind her, but all she could think about was getting
more
. More of him rocking into her, more of that fierce, focused need centered on her face. Both of them utterly consumed by ordinary, ungainly Paige Wilcox.

“You think you scare me?” She lifted her chin. “Hell no. You can only spank me if I want it. If I
let
you.”

Even as she said it, the fingers of her free hand curled around his wrist. She hoped like hell he got the message that she was setting up a dangerous game, because if he pulled the gentleman card and backed away now, she was going to lose her mind.

“You think so, sweetheart?” He tipped his forehead against hers, his breathing choppy. He was every bit as affected by their foreplay as she was. “Test us and find out.”

“What us? I only see you right now.”

“Go ahead and run,” he murmured into her mouth. “See if we catch you.”

She didn’t think. Didn’t question herself if she was creating an unhealthy precedent. There were games, and there was sex, and she really wasn’t sure how far she could push them.

That was a huge part of the thrill.

She shoved the lantern in his chest and used his moment’s surprise to take off running. She scrambled a bit on the hay, losing her footing, but quickly regained it and sprinted out of the stable and down the path to the house.

His loud footsteps pounded behind her. He was close, too close.

As she neared the house, coat flapping in the breeze, she debated running around the side or heading back in and sprinting out the front. He’d expect her to disappear outside. So many more places to hide.

What he didn’t get was that she really wanted to be caught.

At the last second, she veered back to the house. She charged up the steps to the back porch, her heartbeat stampeding in her ears. Perspiration slicked between her shoulder blades and her lungs were screaming. But she couldn’t stop now. Not yet.

She opened the screen door, prepared to dart inside, and slammed into a rock hard chest.

Panting, she glanced up at Colt’s narrowed eyes. “Oh fuck.”

He tipped up her chin with a single fingertip as the clomp of boots behind her on the porch told her she was well and truly surrounded. An equally hard chest pressed into her backside and she moaned, so turned on she couldn’t even think to be nervous about what they might do.

“Going somewhere, darlin’?” Colt asked softly.

To read more about Going Long, Going Deep and Cari Quinn’s other work, visit her website at
www.cariquinn.com
.

Trinity Masters:

Elemental Pleasure

Primal Passion

Scorching Desire

Forbidden Legacy

Hidden Devotion