An NFL player who finds love when he least expects it…
Making the Play
Hidden Falls #1
T.J. Kline
Released Sept 27th, 2016
Avon Impulse
T.J.
Kline launches a brand new series with the charming story of an NFL player who
finds love when he least expects it…
Grant
McQuaid has dedicated his entire life to his football career. Now an injury
threatens his place on the team and he’s forced to return home to rehabilitate.
But when he meets his “biggest fan,” a precocious, blue-eyed, hearing impaired
boy named James—and his beautiful mother, Bethany—Grant begins to question
whether football is the future he still wants.
Bethany
Mills has been doing just fine since her husband walked out on them… and she
definitely doesn’t need another man to disappoint her—or her son. But when James
runs into his hero at the park, Bethany admits there is a void in her son’s
life that she just can’t fill. Her attraction to the handsome football star is
undeniable, but a man in the limelight is the last thing she wants for herself,
or James.
Grant doesn’t
want to subject Bethany to the chaos of dating a professional athlete. But the
more time he spends with her and James, the harder it is to resist making a
play for her heart…
Bethany watched from the
doorway as Grant McQuaid, star running back, lay on her bathroom floor
repairing the seal on her toilet. Thank goodness she’d cleaned the tile after
the water had soaked it.
“That should do it,” he
announced, standing up and handing James the wrench he’d purchased. “Go put
that in a safe place so your mom has it when she needs it next time.”
His shirt had several wet
spots on it from his less-than-stellar handyman skills, plastering it to him in
several places and making it difficult for Bethany to keep from staring at the
way the muscles of his upper body shifted, flexing with his every movement. Her
fingers itched to run down the lines of his rib cage where the shirt clung to
him like a second skin.
“Ice cream time,” James
announced, running past her into the hallway.
“Put it into the drawer by
the phone, baby,” she called after him.
Grant washed his hands at
the sink and wiped them on the towel sitting on the counter before he turned
toward her. “Ice cream time,” he repeated, his voice low and husky.
It didn’t sound like a fun
outing when he said it. It sounded like a dark promise of sweet, sinfully
dangerous things to come. He took a step toward her, eliminating any distance
between them and looked down at her, his dampened chest only inches from her
face. Her fingers twitched, desperate to reach out and touch his skin, to see
if it was indeed as hot and hard as it looked.
“Are you ready?”
Bethany glanced up at him,
the heat from his skin warming her without a touch, setting every nerve ending
in her body on high alert. She felt his breath wash over the top of her head.
“Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to.”
The smile that spread over
his lips was warm. And slightly wicked. “Bethany, there is nothing I’d rather
do right now.”
His eyes met hers and he
lifted a finger under her chin. His hand was cool and still slightly damp from
washing up but his gaze was hot. Bethany felt the sizzle of electricity from
his touch as it stole her breath. She licked her lips, wondering what she could
say, if she could even form words to speak.
His gaze fell to her lips
and she felt her knees weaken, her breaths coming in shallow pants. “I take
that back. I can think of a few other
things I’d rather do with you.”
If you love heroes that have can have a bond with a child just as special as the one with the mom, you must read this book! Grant and James bond instantly over football, but that quickly turns into a special relationship that rivals the love he feels for Bethany. That bond is what helps Grant bring down the barriers Bethany put up after being abandoned by her husband after they found out James was deaf as an infant. It is amazing how resilient kids can be, and Ms. Kline does a wonderful job of conveying that. Grant has personal issues that complicated his relationship, but most of it was in his head and he was frustrating at times. Overall, a great start to a new series, and since Grant has quite a few siblings, I'm hoping to see them in future books.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book. I was not compensated for this review, all conclusions are my own.
T. J.
Kline was raised competing in rodeos and Rodeo Queen
competitions since the age of 14 and has thorough knowledge of the sport as
well as the culture involved. She writes contemporary western romance for Avon
Romance, including the Rodeo series and the Healing Harts series. She has
published a nonfiction health book and two inspirational fiction titles under
the name Tina Klinesmith. In her very limited spare time, T.J. can be found
laughing hysterically with her husband, children, and their menagerie of pets
in Northern California.
Thank you for hosting today! ~gaele for Tasty Book Tours
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