Game On
New York Kings # 3
By: Collette West
Releasing October 17th, 2014
Self-Published
Pitching phenom
Bruce "Jilly" Gillette has a hard time talking to women. His hulking
presence of tattoos and muscles is what makes him an intimidating closer on the
mound, yet off the field, he's painfully shy, uncomfortable in his own skin.
Desperate to
revamp his loner image, the New York Kings hold a dream date contest, granting
the lucky winner a night on the town with their surly reliever, doing whatever
it takes to force Jilly out of his comfort zone.
Hailey Halpert
enters the contest on a whim, looking for answers as to why her high school
relationship with Jilly hit the skids. Now she’s a popular romance author
writing under a pen name, and her reappearance in Jilly's life is no accident.
It turns out that her novels are all about the sexy players on the Kings, and
Jilly has no clue that he's about to become her new leading man.
I never thought
that Hailey Halpert would be at one of my games, cheering for me. Sure, she watched me play plenty of
times in high school, but never as a King. It's something I've often fantasized
about, and now, it's
actually happening.
I take a deep breath
to steady my nerves. I don't get nervous no matter how pressure-packed the
situation. I'm known for having ice water running through my veins. When I
pitch, nothing can
get to me, but tonight,
I want to show Hailey what I can do. I want to impress her. Let her see that
she's dating the number-one
closer in all of baseball. I want to prove that I'm good enough for her, that
I'm worth taking a chance on.
I shake off my
catcher, Pedro Gonzalez. He wants me to throw a breaking ball. Yeah, right. I
don't think so. I intend to bring the heat.
Pedro finally
gives in, realizing how determined I am to deliver a fastball. Burke Balfour,
the Detroit player at the plate, is currently leading the league in homers.
This should be fun—a
muscle against muscle, chest-thumping battle for supremacy. But you know what?
Screw Balfour. I'm all about blowing Hailey Halpert away.
I rear back,
slightly changing my delivery in order to give it everything I've got. The ball
flies out of my hand,
Balfour swings and misses, and the crowd goes wild. I take a look over my
shoulder to check out the scoreboard for the radar gun reading. A hundred miles
per hour. I smile to myself. I want Hailey to see me at my absolute best, and
that's what she's going to get.
I sneak a quick
glance at Hailey. She's watching me attentively, her eyes trained on no one but
me. Even in front of all of these people, my crotch tightens. Fuck.
Jilly is definitely not portrayed as your typical pro baseball player, and I love him more because of that. He's had his heart broken my his true love - his high school sweetheart. Hailey has been in love with Jilly since high school, but when he blows his chance with her, she tries to move on. Their heartbreak as well as their current issues could have easily been avoided if only the communicated better. This story is sweet and romantic with a little bit of steam, and will keep you hooked from beginning to end. Loved the bonus chapters at the end with hints from books to come, can't wait.
Collette
West grew up as somewhat of a jock-nerd hybrid. Entering the world three weeks
premature, her dad nearly missed her birth because he had seats behind the
dugout for a sold-out, highly-anticipated match-up between two of baseball's
biggest rivals. Not to be outdone, her book-loving mom taught her how to read
by the time she was three. A love of the game coupled with an appreciation for
the written word were instilled in Collette's impressionable brain from a young
age. No wonder her characters believe in the philosophy: sports + romance = a
little slice of heaven.
Splitting
her time between the Pocono Mountains and Manhattan, Collette indulges her
inner fangirl by going to as many games as she can from hockey to baseball and
downloading every sports romance novel in existence onto her iPad. When she's
not clicking away on her laptop, she enjoys walking her dog in Central Park,
satisfying her caffeine craving at the Starbucks on Broadway and keeping an eye
out for Mr. Right. But above all, she loves dishing with her readers. Email her
at collette_west@yahoo.com
She
is the author of NIGHT GAMES, GAME CHANGER and GAME ON.
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