Mark your Calendar
October 25 you can take Chase DeMarco home with you!
Who is Chase? The hero of FOURTH DOWN
#4 GAME ON Series
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Go Big or Go Home.
When her relationship goes up in flames, Holly Funchess jumps straight back into the heat—by becoming a firefighter. Running as far away from her past as she can, Holly trains hard and lands a job with a small San Diego firehouse. With everything to prove, she has no problem putting her love life on the back burner. But where there’s smoke…
A former football player with a string of failed relationships behind him, Chase DeMarco has put his all into his Coast Guard career and the youth football team he coaches. He’s not about to let anyone distract him—especially Holly, the woman at his gym who seems to relish getting under his skin. But when their skirmishes turn into full-contact workouts—and they face off against the dangers of their jobs—Chase and Holly must choose between letting the clock run down or playing to win…
When her relationship goes up in flames, Holly Funchess jumps straight back into the heat—by becoming a firefighter. Running as far away from her past as she can, Holly trains hard and lands a job with a small San Diego firehouse. With everything to prove, she has no problem putting her love life on the back burner. But where there’s smoke…
A former football player with a string of failed relationships behind him, Chase DeMarco has put his all into his Coast Guard career and the youth football team he coaches. He’s not about to let anyone distract him—especially Holly, the woman at his gym who seems to relish getting under his skin. But when their skirmishes turn into full-contact workouts—and they face off against the dangers of their jobs—Chase and Holly must choose between letting the clock run down or playing to win…
He was just about to take a sip of
his third drink (probably his last, if he was smart) when he happened to glance
to his left and his jaw nearly hit the floor. He blinked, twice, just to make
sure he wasn’t seeing things. Nope, it was her. Holly Funchess. Miss Sass.
Right there in this madhouse. And holy shit! Tonight her hair was down in soft
waves falling to her shoulders, and the jeans and top she wore showed off a
figure that he was sure every man in the place was drooling over.
He wondered what she was doing here.
She didn’t look any too happy about her situation. Had she been dragged here by
friends, too? She stood for a moment, frowning, looking around the room. Was
she looking for her friends? Had they left without her? That would suck big
time.
Then two things happened. He saw
the exact moment she spotted him, her jaw dropping slightly, and a frown
creasing her forehead. And a guy big enough to be an NFL linebacker squeezed
over to her and tried to put his arm around her. She recoiled in shock and
tried to move away but there was no place for her to go. As Chase watched, the
man tried to pull her into the crowd with him. When there was no room to move,
his face reddened with frustration and his arm tightened around her. Holly
pushed hard at him but he was the immovable object. He watched her try to free
herself, try to jab her elbow into him, but his grip on her was too strong;
Chase sighed. Okay, that was his
cue, no matter how hard he told himself not to get involved. He set his drink
down on the bar and began the tortuous job of inching through the crowd to get
to where Holly and the man were standing. He kept his eyes on her the entire
time, making sure the two of them never moved from that spot. People swore at
him as he shoved between bodies, and some even punched his arm but he kept
going.
Finally he was there. When he saw
how the man’s fingers dug into Holly’s upper arm his temper spiked. Despite
what had happened with his mother, his father had taught him always to respect
women. Actions like this enraged him. He was glad now that he worked out so
much and kept himself in top shape. Closing his fingers around the big man’s
wrist, he pressed hard on the spot that he knew would send pain shooting up his
arm.
“Hey!” The man shouted at him, his
face turning red as the pressure forced his fingers to loosen their grip.
“Leggo of me.”
Chase put his lips as close as he
could get to the man’s ears. “Keep your damn hands to yourself and get away
from my date.”
Whether it was the pressure on the
nerve center of the wrist or shock at the words, the man let go instantly.
Chase pulled Holly toward him and wrapped an arm around her. She stared at him
in shock but went along with the play.
“Fucking bitch came onto me,” the
man shouted at him.
“I saw the whole thing.” Chase took
a step back, or as much as he could, bringing Holly with him. “It’s all on you,
buddy. One hundred percent. Better cool it or I’ll have you thrown out.”
He eased through the edge of the
crowd back into the short hallway that Holly had appeared from. It took several
apologies as they inched their way through the press of bodies, but finally
they reached the rear door and a few inches of clear space. He released Holly
and took a step back.
“Thank you.” She rubbed her arms.
Chase could already see the
reddened marks of fingerprints blossoming on her skin and it made him want to
go back and punch the guy’s face. “No problem.”
“He just came out of nowhere. What
he said. I didn’t—”
“I know. I saw the whole thing.”
“You did?” Her eyes widened. “Well,
thanks for coming to my rescue.”
There it was again, that hint of
the south in her voice. He wondered where she was from? Not San Diego, for
sure.
He gave her a half-grin. “Sure. It’s
what we Coasties do.”
“Listen.” She looked into the packed
bar and back at him. “I-I need to get some fresh air for a minute. I don’t
think I’m ready to go back into that mixing machine yet. But thank you again.”
“Why don’t I just step outside with
you?”
Why
don’t I just shoot myself first?
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading your except.
Janice~
Great excerpt. Loved the last line....
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