Title:
Strike (The Completion Series)
Author: Holly S. Roberts
Release
Date: January 22, 2014
Synopsis
Strike is the second book in the Completion
Series. There is no connection to Play (book I) except the sports theme. Strike
is a standalone HEA novel.
Nineteen-year-old Jaycee Shumway breaks into professional baseball player, Reed Tyler’s home, to steal the second most valuable set of balls he owns. Neither of them expect their striking attraction or battle of wills to lead them to a homerun.
Jaycee has more than herself to worry about. When Reed discovers she has a younger brother and sister, he’s quickly caught up in their world of need and heartbreak.
Baseball season begins and the separation puts Reed and Jaycee’s game on hold. With bases loaded and hearts on the line, will Reed convince Jaycee that she needs him to win or will Jaycee strike out and walk off the field forever?
This New Adult book is intended for mature audiences.
Nineteen-year-old Jaycee Shumway breaks into professional baseball player, Reed Tyler’s home, to steal the second most valuable set of balls he owns. Neither of them expect their striking attraction or battle of wills to lead them to a homerun.
Jaycee has more than herself to worry about. When Reed discovers she has a younger brother and sister, he’s quickly caught up in their world of need and heartbreak.
Baseball season begins and the separation puts Reed and Jaycee’s game on hold. With bases loaded and hearts on the line, will Reed convince Jaycee that she needs him to win or will Jaycee strike out and walk off the field forever?
This New Adult book is intended for mature audiences.
Author Bio and Links
Holly
S. Roberts is the bestselling author of fourteen novels, and writes under three
pen names. A romantic at heart, she fell in love at the age of twelve with a
boy she saw across junior high school campus. Four years later, he took notice
and she never let go.Her career in law enforcement gives her a reason to want
romance, happy endings, and anything that takes her away from real life when
she reads and writes. She can shoot a mean game of pool, toss back a straight
shot of tequila, and recite the Gettysburg Address.Holly lives high in the
mountains in the southwest United States with her husband, Rottweiler and
Chihuahua.
Excerpt
I turned
and faced him. “Look Reed, I’m not going to be your girlfriend. I don’t need
rides home or your jackets.” I was such a liar. I didn’t ever want to give up
the jacket enveloping me in warmth and his scent. I wanted to roll in his smell
coating my body with Reed Tyler.
“I’d like
you to work for me.”
Well that
made me laugh. “Doing what, your laundry, cleaning?”
“Don’t you
think it’s a better gig than Tasty Burger?”
I’d said
my last words as a joke but god, he was serious. “I am not going to be your
maid. The idea is ridiculous.”
“Just hear
me out.”
“No.” Why
did he always bring my pride to the forefront?
“I have an
apartment over the garage. It has two bedrooms. Jon could sleep inside the main
house and you and Bitsy could have separate rooms.”
Now I
understood and pride was the last thing I felt. A slow angry buzz built in my
brain.
It made
perfect sense, baseball player, too much money, an easy lay whenever he had the
need. “You want a live in whore?”
His voice
exploded in the car, “You drive me crazy. No, I don’t want a live in whore.” He
took a deep breath and spoke one decimal softer, “Spring training starts in two
weeks. I’ll be in Florida. I have a cleaning service that comes in once a week
but there’s always something neglected when I’m gone. I need someone to oversee
things, let the pest control guy in, make sure the yard is tended by the yard
crew. It’s honest work. Your sister and brother need this. You can’t do it all
and I have the means to help you. Christ, I would just give you the money but I
don’t see you taking it. Instead you risk your life robbing me and you risk
your brother and sister’s lives too.”
His words
only fueled my anger. “You know nothing about me or my sister and brother. You
live in your mansion and think you have the right to butt into my business.
Tell me this… did you plan on keeping your hands off me? Are you providing my
own room so you can sneak in at night and get a little extra for your money? Is
that part of your overall scheme?” Reed Tyler was a creep the same as all the
men my mother brought home and that included the three that fathered me and Jon
and Bitsy. I threw open the car door and slammed it closed behind me. I ignored
the screeching tires and fought back tears. Squaring my shoulders, pushing the
internal pain aside, I knocked on the trailer door. The soft crying coming from
inside registered at the same time Jon opened the door.
“What’s
wrong?” I looked past Jon to Bitsy.
“It’s…
it’s… Don Gato.” Tears covered her scrunched up face.
My heart
broke. She held the mangy old cat in her arms.
“Oh honey,
he was very old. It was his time.”
“He’ssss
not dead, he’s sick and he won’t walk.”
Now my
heart broke even further. Jon closed the door behind me and I walked over to
look at Don Gato. He was lifeless but I could see the slight rise and fall of
his chest. I didn’t even have money to end his suffering. Life crashed in but I
had to control myself. I angrily wiped the tears from my face.
“You need
to go to sleep Bitsy. You can’t stay up holding him all night. It won’t make a
difference.” And I knew it wouldn’t. It didn’t matter how long I’d held my
mother’s hand, she died anyway. She’d left me alone to care for my sister and
brother. People died. Cats died and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about
it.
An hour
later, I lay down with Bitsy one arm under her pillow and my other hand across
her body resting on Don Gato. His small chest continued to rise and fall. I
needed him to die by morning. Bitsy didn’t need to go through this any longer.
I cried quietly so Jon couldn’t hear. I’d seen Jon’s eyes. He knew the same
thing I did.
It sucked
to be poor.
Purchase Links
Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/ne5hshc
Barnes
& Noble: http://tinyurl.com/kmee49h
Kobo:
http://tinyurl.com/m33ypdh
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