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How do you fall out of love with a man who’s all in?
Counting on Love, Book 2
Isabelle Dixon never should have said yes to that first date, but she couldn’t resist Shane Kelley’s larger-than-life personality. Except now Shane seems determined to make their no-strings fling into something more.
If she thought dating Shane was hard work, breaking up is proving to be much harder. Especially since she’s planning on making some major life changes that don’t include staying out all night, Jell-O shots, and a sex toy shop punch card. She needs a restful cabin getaway—alone—to gather her thoughts. And the strength to finally end things for good.
Shane has always prided himself on being the good-time guy. Exactly Isabelle’s type…or so he thought. Yet ever since he suggested her moving in, she’s been pulling back. Thing is, Shane does everything with gusto—including falling in love.
He’s not about to let her get away that easily. Even if it means chasing her heart down a crazy road to prove that no matter what life throws at them, they make a damned good team.
Product Warnings
Contains a strange road trip with several weird tourist stops, some hot sex in a car wash, and two people who are just crazy enough to be perfect for one another.
Excerpt:
Shane Kelley was a great pool
player.
At least he had been at one time.
Before he’d started hanging out at Trudy’s. Before he’d met Isabelle Dixon.
That woman had been distracting him
since they’d first said hello.
Of course, he told her that he threw
games on occasion to keep the other guys happy.
Truth was, he hadn’t had a solid
game in almost a year.
Isabelle slid out of the booth where
she and her sisters had been drinking and gabbing for the past thirty minutes
and he completely missed his shot.
Ryan Kaye laughed. “I love taking
your money, Kelley.”
Shane handed over the twenty they’d
put down on the game. “You know it’s because I’m not playing up to par, not
because you’re actually good, right?”
Ryan pocketed the money. “All spends
the same.”
Uh-huh. Shane propped his cue
against the table and reached for his beer, keeping Isabelle in sight. She had
headed in the direction of the restrooms, but she had her cell phone out, her
thumbs moving over the screen.
He gripped his bottle tighter and
took a drink. She distracted him and made him crazy. He should just let her go.
He should find someone else. He should see a psychiatrist before he turned into
an insane stalker.
Or he should marry her.
That was his favorite idea. And the
one he’d been thinking about more and more since she and her sisters had been
in a car accident two months ago. Isabelle had only been banged up a little,
but he’d never forget the feeling of sheer terror at the idea that he could
have lost her.
Getting over her wasn’t going to
happen.
So marrying her seemed like the only
thing that made sense.
Convincing her of that was turning
out to be the hardest thing he’d ever done. He couldn’t even get her to move
in. How was he going to get her to say I
do?
He knew that their romance had been a whirlwind, that it didn’t make sense to be talking this seriously this soon. He
wanted to live with her before they even knew what kind of toothpaste they each
preferred or if either of them sang in the shower. Whenever Isabelle was in the
shower and he was around, he was in the shower with her. And she didn’t have
any breath left to sing.
But it hadn’t worried him. He’d felt it—she was the one. They had a
lifetime to learn about each other, and what better way than to live together?
He felt his phone vibrate in his
pocket and reached for it, realizing that Isabelle must have slipped into the
bathroom while he was lost in thought.
I
need you.
Shane felt his heart kick in his
chest.
Isabelle had that effect on him no
matter where they were or what they were doing. Three little words via text and
his reaction was simply yes.
It was a little pathetic. Or maybe a
lot pathetic.
But whatever Isabelle needed from
him, he was all hers.
He tipped his beer back, finishing
it off. “Gotta go, guys,” he said.
Ryan raised an eyebrow, glanced
toward the table where the Dixon girls had been seated, noticed that Isabelle
was missing from the group and looked back to Shane. “Everything okay?”
Shane nodded. “I’ll make sure of
it.”
“Good thing Mac has Conner
occupied,” Ryan said, nodding to a table behind Shane.
He glanced over to where Isabelle’s
brother, Conner, was sitting with Mac Gordon, one of the best—and
cockiest—paramedics in the city.
Mac loved to give Conner shit and it
had very little to do with Conner being a fellow paramedic. It mostly had to do
with Conner’s blatant crush on Mac’s wife. Mac wasn’t at all worried about
losing Sara to Conner—which was exactly what he gave Conner shit about.
That most definitely worked in the
favor of all the guys who liked to get the Dixon Divas’ attention. Even Ryan,
who was openly dating Isabelle’s oldest sister, Amanda, appreciated when their
brother was distracted. Conner frowned on too many public displays of
affection.
Shane shot Ryan a grin and took the
opportunity to head after Conner’s third sister.
There were moments when he almost
felt sorry for the guy. He had four younger, beautiful, outgoing sisters.
But then Conner opened his mouth and
said something cocky and Shane figured he deserved those four sisters and all
the trouble they brought with them.
He stepped into the back hallway.
There was only one stall in the bathroom and the door locked, so he was fine
meeting up in there. It wouldn’t be the first time. But before he got to the
bathroom door, a hand came out from the storage room and pulled him in amongst
the brooms and cleaning supplies.
Even without the light, he instantly
knew from her body spray that it was Isabelle. He gladly pressed in close so
she could shut the door behind him. Once the latch clicked she flipped on the
light and pushed him up against the door.
“We need to talk,” she said simply.
Her long blond hair was pulled back
into one of the complicated twists that she often wore for work and his hands
itched to unfasten the pins and let it loose.
“Damn right we do. When are you
moving in?” He lifted a hand and ran his thumb along her jaw instead of messing
up her hair. For now.
“Shane, I’m serious.”
Her hands were pressed flat against
his chest and he couldn’t help but flash back to the week before when they’d
last had sex. On his kitchen table. She’d pulled out chocolate body pens and
had drawn on him—all over—before licking it off.
“Shane?”
He focused on her. “Sorry.”
“We need to talk about something
serious.”
“Sweetheart, I know there’s cotton
candy out there, but this is serious. I’ve got the moving truck waiting.”
“I can’t move in with you.”
“See, honey, that’s just not true.”
He settled his hands on her hips and moved her closer. “It’s easy. You throw
your stuff in a box, you let the big strong moving guys throw it on the truck
and it’s done.”
Isabelle gripped the front of his
shirt in her hands. “Shane. I. Am. Not. Moving. In. With. You.”
He stared into her green eyes. Why
did he put up with all of this? She was a
lot of work.
Most of the guys he knew would
instantly assume it was about the sex. Isabelle was always up for it, anytime,
anywhere, and it was exciting and fun and spicy every time.
But it wasn’t that. Well, it wasn’t just that.
He couldn’t exactly explain what it
was, but it wasn’t only about the sex.
“This isn’t about Vegas,” he said,
confident that Isabelle knew nothing had happened between him and his ex.
“No,” she admitted, letting go of
his shirt. “It’s not.”
He pulled her close again when she
tried to step back. “And this isn’t because you’re not in love with me. You
are.”
She nodded. “Yes, I think I am.”
Relief rushed through him. He knew
it, on some level, but damn, hearing it was really, really good. “Then help me
out here, darlin’. Because this doesn’t make any fucking sense.”
PRE-ORDER available from Samhain NOW! http://store.samhainpublishing.com/it-takes-two-p-73002.html
Looks good.
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ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies! No, this isn't part of the blog tour... this is just my place for general ramblings and posts :)
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