by Mj Fields
I should be angry, but I’m not. The pride in which she talks about me, the faith, the trust, and the love she has for me is the greatest gift I have ever received.
“Your mother is someone to aspire to be, Adalyn.”
I swear she smiles at me, although all the parenting books would tell me I am wrong. I still don’t believe for a second that look is anything but a smile.
“I love you so much, Adalyn Maria Mazzini. So, so much.”
I hear the door open and look up as Tatum walks into the room.
“You looked beautiful,” I tell her honestly.
She laughs as she walks over to me. “I messed up, though.”
“You’re an author—you write; you don’t speak,” I remind her of what she once told me.
She leans in and kisses me, and then she kisses our daughter’s head. “I think your daddy is wishing that were true while I was on camera.”
“Your daddy loves everything about your mommy. Everything,” I tell her. I look up at Tatum. “Let’s get us home.”
She smiles. “Home.”
The End
Check out a SNEAK PEEK of Save Me and Teach Me, coming later this year...
Save Me
Jared’s story will be available in June 2017
Drowning. Sally Chet is a single mom, drowning in day to day necessities, getting by slinging drinks at Caldwell’s Bar. She hasn’t had a solitary moment to herself since her ex-husband left and took their savings with him. Life is passing her by.
Jared Beacon is drowning in past regrets. He hasn’t had a moment of peace since the accident that took everything from him. Life is passing him by.
He needs to be saved from himself. She needs to learn to live life again. Thrown together in a night of chaos, will she be the one to save him? Will he be the one to make Sally feel again?
Teach Me
Buck’s story will be available in September 2017
I am nothing. I have nothing. I am no one. The man I despise is pushing me to become something, and I am fighting it every step of the way.
Being uneducated, with no skills or vocation, I am stuck in a place I don’t want to be. But there is no way to take care of myself, or her, without this gym and him.
I have nothing and no one, until I fight my way out and fight for a future.
Now I teach men and women to do the same. Most of them are forced through the courts to sit in my classroom as part of a probation agreement.
I need to teach, and he needs to be taught. I don’t know how not to fall in love with the man who walked into my classroom and possibly saved my life and my job when he wants nothing to do with me.
The Brave Line by Kate Stewart is available now.
Grab your copy today!
She is a five foot seven long list of things he can’t have.
He is a determined cop, desperate to keep his heart sealed behind his badge.
Michelle is a survivor. With a fresh perspective on life, she trades her tragic past in California for the coastal waters of Charleston. Fueled by a new career as a dispatcher, she’s determined not to let her scars weigh her down. She apologizes for nothing, especially her insatiable need for a certain police officer.
Rowdy is a newly minted sergeant dedicated to his job, but the life of a Charleston police officer has never been more dangerous. With his need to take order of a city spiraling out of control, the last thing he wants is an entanglement with a mouthy dispatcher. But, there’s just one problem. He can’t get enough of her.
As the heat rises between the unlikely pair, so does the tension.
Three months of summer was all it took to shake their foundations, rattle their walls, and bring them crashing down.
It was lust.
It was love.
It was real.
And it would have been perfect . . . if it wasn’t already over.
Note To Reader: This book has several elements and explores topics that some may consider triggers. For mature audiences only. Explicit sex, violence and language.
Chapter One
June 2
97 degrees
2200 (10:00pm)
Rowdy
I raced down the long gravel driveway in my police cruiser with a grin. Seven patrol cars were lined behind me, ready to roll. I flipped the siren as they flocked out in a bird’s V before parking in front of the expansive two-story house that was now swathed in red and blue light.
Without hesitation, I got out of the car with my CB in hand and barked my order. “Andrew Pracht, we have your house surrounded! There’s no escape, coach. Come out now with your hands up and there won’t be any trouble.”
I heard the shriek of my best friend as she exited the house. “ROWDY?! JUST WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!”
“Step aside, ma’am,” I said through the speaker as she came barreling toward me, her stunned fiancé behind her. Luckily, he was fully dressed in long shorts and a T-shirt.
“Rowdy!” April protested again with hell’s fury in her voice.
I spoke to her through the CB even though she was only yards away. “You should have known better than to accept the marriage proposal of a pretty boy, Ms. Turner, and for that he must pay,” I toyed. “Now, step aside and let the good officers do their job.” Two of Charleston’s finest blocked her path as she cursed them both by name—names she knew and badges she protected daily through her headset as a 911 dispatcher for the city of Charleston. We were all friends, but tonight we had a role to play.
“What in the hell?” Andy said as he was cuffed and stuffed into the back of my cruiser without much of a fight.
April made long strides toward me as I got back into my car and tore off like a bat out of hell.
“Don’t wait up,” I barked into the speaker as April stood stunned in our wake while the rest of the spectacle behind me blared their sirens.
“What the fuck is this?” Andy asked as I looked in the rearview.
“Rafe’s orders,” I quipped.
The man was about to marry my best friend, and it was time he knew just how well I expected her to be treated. I barely knew him. He was a bullpen coach in the Majors and had spent very little time in Charleston since he took the position. April had been traveling back and forth to see him since he started his job in Atlanta last season. All I knew was what she’d told me, but I would make damn sure I knew what he was made of before the night was over.
****
You know what the kicker is about best laid plans? They always backfire.
“What the hell, man? This is happening at my bar?” Andy asked as he looked around once we pulled up.
“Yeah, funny thing is, Rafe decided that since you own a bar, as the best man, it was his divine right to cash in.”
“Cheap bastard,” Andy muttered as I opened his door and he shimmied out with the cuffs still fastened behind him. I unlocked them with a smug grin to match the challenge in his eyes.
“Is this where you grill me on how to treat your best friend?”
“I think it’s a bit obvious I’m going to need to have that conversation,” I said as he massaged his wrists once I let him loose. “They shouldn’t have put them on tight.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been in the back of a fucking cop car with cuffs on.”
“Think of it as a learning experience,” I said as I locked the car. “You can ride shotgun on the way home.”
“I don’t have to worry about retaliation for this shit,” Andy said as we walked toward his bar. “April will have your ass for this.”
The sad part was, every bit of his statement was true. Whatever shitty routine call April took behind her headset for the next few months now belonged to me.
Andy paused to look back at me, and a slow smile spread over his face at the crack in the exterior of mine.
“You’re fucked.”
“Hindsight is a bitch. Let’s get you drunk.”
“Sounds good,” Andy said as he paused at the door a
nd then looked at me over his shoulder. “I love her. You don’t have shit to worry about. She’s in good hands.”
I’d watched his fiancée—my best friend of seventeen years—suffer at the hands of her ex, Tyler. It had been a nightmare when they split. April never received the love or respect she deserved, and I’d fought with her ex time and time again because he was my friend as well. The last two years I’d felt the loss of family in the worst way. My best friend, Kurt, had been killed on the job, and that was a large part of it. At one time, it had been the four of us. Kurt, April, Tyler, and me had formed a family of our own. Our friendship spanned over a decade. With Kurt’s sudden absence and April and Tyler at permanent odds, it had been hard, to say the least. I’d made due, but things just hadn’t been the same. Nothing in the world had been more important to me than our circle. And the fucked up thing about it was that everyone had moved on in one way or another, except me.
So, for a number of reasons, I was protective of April. I was concerned about her future and happiness, sure, but I was more afraid of losing my place in her life. I liked Andy, despite my asshole theatrics of getting him to his bachelor party, but I could never let her future with him jeopardize the only real relationship in mine. He could take the first place in line as long as I always had a place.
“Just know I was there before you and I’ll continue to be there. She’s my family, so make a believer out of me.”
Andy nodded as understanding passed between us. I motioned toward the closed door. “Go on, man.”
“Should I be afraid of what’s waiting in there?”
I shrugged as he opened the door and surveyed the party that was in full swing. It was full of half-drunk athletes. As if some cock-driven sixth sense sparked to life inside of me, I scanned the room until my eyes landed on Michelle.
Andy didn’t have shit to worry about, but I sure as hell did.
About the Authors
MJ Fields
USA Today bestselling author MJ Fields write books that scorch pages and melt hearts. Her style is raw, gritty and authentic. Love an alpha and a strong heroine? She does too.
Join MJ’s mailing list: http://bit.ly/MJFNews
Visit her website here: http://www.mjfieldsbooks.com/
Follow her on Facebook: facebook.com/MJFieldsBooks
Follow her on Twitter: twitter.com/mjfieldsbooks
Follow her on Instagram: instagram.com/mjfieldsbooks
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/MJonGoodreads
Book Bub: http://bit.ly/MJBookBub
Readers Group: http://bit.ly/MJReaders
The Men of Steel Series
Forever Steel
Jase
Jase and Carly
Cyrus
Zandor
Xavier
Forever Family
Family
Momma Joe
The Ties of Steel Series
Abe
Dominic
Eroe
Sabato
The Rockers of Steel Series
Memphis Black (Memphis and Tallia)
Finn Beckett (Finn and Sonia)
River James (River and Kianna)
Billy Jeffers (Billy and Madison)
UnSocial Daters Club: Matched Duet
Match This!
ImPerfectly Matched!
Steel Country Series (Coming Soon)
LRAH Legacy Series (These families’ stories are intertwined starting with The Love series, they move to the Wrapped Series, the Burning Souls series, and end in Love You Anyways.
Many more series will spin off from these characters already written and each will be a standalone series but for those of us who love a story to continue I recommend reading in this order.
The Love Series
(Must Be Read In This Order)
Blue Love
New Love
Sad Love
True Love
The Wrapped Series
Wrapped In Silk
Wrapped In Armor
Wrapped In Always and Forever
Burning Souls Series
Stained
Forged
Merged
LRAH Legacy Additions
Love You Anyway
Love Notes
The Truth About Love Series
27 Truths (Ava’s Story)
27 Lies (Luke’s Story)
The Norfolk Series
Irons (Jaxson and Frankie, book 1)
Shadows (Shadows and Mary, book 2)
Titan (Coming 2017)
Published with Loveswept/Penguin Random House
The Caldwell Brothers Series
(co-written w/ Chelsea Camaron)
Hendrix
Morrison
Jagger
Standalones
Visibly Broken
(co-written w/ Chelsea Camaron)
Offensive Rebound
Chelsea Camaron
USA Today bestselling author Chelsea Camaron is a small-town Carolina girl with a big imagination. She’s a wife and mom, chasing her dreams. She writes contemporary romance, erotic suspense, and psychological thrillers. She loves to write about blue-collar men who have real problems with a fictional twist. From mechanics to bikers to oil riggers to smokejumpers, bar owners, and beyond she loves a strong hero who works hard and plays harder.
Chelsea can be found on social media at
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorchelseacamaron
Twitter: @chelseacamaron
Instagram: @chelseacamaron
Website: www.authorchelseacamaron.com
Email [email protected]
Other works by Chelsea Camaron
Love and Repair Series
Crash and Burn
Restore My Heart
Salvaged
Full Throttle
Beyond Repair
Stalled
Box Set Available
Hellions Ride Series
One Ride
Forever Ride
Merciless Ride
Eternal Ride
Innocent Ride
Simple Ride
Heated Ride
Ride with Me (Hellions MC and Ravage MC Duel with Ryan Michele)
Originals Ride
Final Ride
Roughneck Series:
Maverick
Heath
Lance
Box Set Available
Stand Alone Thriller – Stay
Stand Alone Short Romance – Serving My Soldier
Mother Trucker
Devil’s Due MC Series
Crossover
In The Red
Below The Line
Close The Tab
The following series are co-written
The Fire Inside Series
(co-written by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt)
Kale
Regulators MC Series
(co-written by Jessie Lane)
Ice
Hammer
Coal
Summer of Sin Series
Original Sin (co-written with Ripp Baker, Daryl Banner, Angelica Chase, MJ Fields, MX King)
Caldwell Brothers Series
(co-written by USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Hendrix
Morrison
Jagger
Stand Alone Romance
(co-written with MJ Fields)
Visibly Broken
Use Me
Ruthless Rebels MC Series
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Shamed
Scorned
Scarred
Schooled
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