Blog Tour: A Numbers Game by Tracy Solheim; Excerpt + Giveaway

A Numbers Game (Out of Bounds #2.5)
Author: Tracy Solheim
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: 15 April 2014

Love is worth more than the sum of its hearts…

CPA Merrit Callahan learned early not to let passion unravel her orderly life. Back in college she fell hard for a football player, only to be devastated when she discovered he’d been duping her all along—dared by his teammates to score with his bookish tutor. Now, after her back-stabbing fiancé breaks off their engagement, Merrit flees to Baltimore to escape the fallout.

After eight years in the pros, a series of concussions have forced Heath Gibson out of the NFL. The transition from player to coach for the Baltimore Blaze hasn’t been smooth, but finding himself face-to-face with Merrit Callahan makes the ride even rockier. He’s been filled with regret ever since a stupid team prank caused Merrit to run away from him a decade earlier.

Merrit’s stunned to reconnect with Heath. And despite the authenticity of his reignited feelings this time around, Merrit’s got her mind set on payback. She’ll give Heath a night he won’t forget and then walk away. But Heath’s hold on her heart—and the rest of her body—is difficult to break…

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Includes a preview of the next Out of Bounds novel, Risky Game.

Excerpt

A feeling of light-headedness nearly brought Merrit to her knees.  Her eyes roamed over the well muscled arms and beautiful chest to his trim waist, honing in on the small green shamrock tattoo peeking out above the waistband of his shorts.  One that exactly matched the shamrock she’d had tattooed above her own hip bone.  She didn’t bother looking up at his face because she already knew it by heart.  Just as she knew the feel of his firm lips on her own, the taste of his skin, the brush of his unshaved face and his musky scent.  Worse, she knew firsthand the mockery that would be reflected in his coffee eyes.  Mockery she’d once mistaken for something else.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” he was saying, but his words sounded to Merrit as if they were echoing out of the end of a pipe.  “I picked up the wrong keys when I went out for my run and I left my cell phone inside on the charger.  Would you mind if I borrowed yours to make a quick—”

He stopped mid-sentence and mid-stride holding both hands up, palms out.  Merrit realized she was mirroring his pose, her hands at the ready to push him away.  The gasping sound she heard was coming from her own throat as her ribs continued to squeeze tightly around her lungs.  She saw the moment recognition dawned on his face; his lips beginning to form a word.  As if the angels sensed her panic, a surge of adrenalin washed away the cement–like feeling in Merrit’s limbs.  Heart racing, she jumped into her car, jammed the key in the ignition and drove off before things really got messy and she passed out.

Blog Tour: Foolish games by Tracy Solheim; Excerpt + Giveaway

Foolish Games
Author: Tracy Solheim
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: 2 December 2013

Sometimes the best defense is a strong offense…

Bridal gown designer, Julianne Marchione knows better than to lose her head at a client’s wedding. But much to her embarrassment, a mix of migraine medication and a smoking hot football player lead to a steamy one night stand resulting in a surprise pregnancy. Julianne has every intention of leaving her NFL hookup far in the past until her son, Owen, is born with a life-threatening blood disorder that requires a transfusion—and Julianne is not a match.

Will “William the Conqueror” Connelly grew up tough shouldering the stigma of being a bastard child born on the wrong side of the tracks. He refuses to let any child face the same discrimination. When he finds out about Owen, he’s furious that Julianne kept his son a secret. But when he sees her again at the hospital, he realizes that his feelings for her go far beyond anger.

Will insists that Owen recuperate at his home in North Carolina, and he’s adamant that Julianne become his wife—even if it’s only a temporary marriage in name only. But will their simmering attraction ever lead to a real connection? Or are they just playing foolish games?

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Excerpt

“You have younger siblings and a niece, what should I do here?”

“I don’t know nothin’ bout burping no babies.”  Gavin took another swallow of beer.

Will swore at his friend.

“Hey, not in front of the baby.”  Gavin laughed.

The door leading into the house from the verandah burst open and Will expected to see a wild-eyed, frantic Julianne.  Instead, Brody Janik stood on the threshold.

“Dude, are you sticking pins in that baby?”  Brody shoved his sunglasses onto this head as he waltzed in to the room, infuriatingly cool, impeccably dressed, a wrapped gift in his hand.

Will stood with a screaming baby in his own hands, spit-up decorating his Yale T-shirt, and a two day growth of beard on his face.  He was used to Brody’s unexpected appearances, but today his jarring perfection pissed him off.  “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You’ve been married a week and I haven’t given you a wedding gift,” Brody said as he gingerly tossed the gift onto the sofa.  “Apparently, I got here in the nick of time.  Let me have that baby.”

Will pulled Owen in closer to his body.  It only made the baby scream louder.

Brody held his hands out.  “Dude, I can fix this. Trust me.”

The last thing Will wanted was Brody Janik in his house, much less holding his kid.

“Give him the damn baby!” Gavin yelled over Owen’s cries.

Reluctantly, Will handed his son to Brody, who sat down on the sofa and immediately plopped Owen face down over his knees.  He firmly rubbed the baby’s back, then patted followed by more rubbing.  After a few minutes, Owen released a belch that would make a locker room blush, his crying subsiding almost immediately.

“Damn!”  Gavin raised his beer in salute.  “Where’d you learn to do that?”