The Flirtation Game: Castle Ridge Small Town Romance

by Allie Burton

  Hurt that Danielle never told him about Brianna, Luke is determined to know his child. Danielle’s reluctant to allow Luke in, fearing he’ll just leave again, but she’s willing to compromise when Luke suggests fake dating with Brianna tagging along. Why then, does a kiss for show feel oh so real?

  In this classic reunion story, love finds a second chance.

  Excerpt:

  “You’re single. I’m single. You’ve changed. I’ve changed. You asked to meet me.” His voice rose in accusation. “Nothing smarmy about that.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Every time a woman asks you to meet does it mean having sex?”

  “Pretty much.” His cockiness caused the wine to burn in her chest.

  Disgust made it travel the wrong direction. “Not with me.”

  His eyes blinked. For a second she thought she’d seen hurt on his expression, but then the suave-macho guy she’d seen in interviews on TV made his reappearance. “Then what do I owe this…pleasure?”

  His hesitation told her he meant the opposite of pleasure, but again the imagined images of the two of them together burned. Her entire body felt as if she sat in the fire, not next to the fireplace. She blew out a breath and focused on what she came to do.

  Tell Luke. Tell Luke. Tell Luke.

  The room seemed to close in on them. The few people in the dining area were normal people having normal conversations. They weren’t about to change someone’s life. They weren’t about to alter their own reality. And their daughter’s.

  The fire roared louder. The flames spurted higher, taunting. Other people’s laughter spiked through her head. The clanging dishes echoed and burst in her brain.

  She blew out a slow breath, knowing she just needed to spit it out. “I need to tell you something and I want a promise you won’t yell or make a scene.”

  “I promise.” His snippiness set the wrong tone.

  Nerves scraped in her stomach making the wine go sour. Nausea rumbled and burned up her chest. She felt as if she was going to heave on the table. She pinched her lips together and then forced her mouth to open. To speak.

  Nothing came out.

  “I haven’t seen you in thirteen years. There’s nothing you could say that would make me angry.” He grabbed his mug and took a long pull.

  She froze at his statement and his casual action. He didn’t believe anything she said mattered? Her iced body cracked and heated. Fissures formed with her fury. He didn’t think she mattered? Her brain popped and her veins burst in a torrent. He probably wouldn’t think their daughter mattered either. Her hands curled into cold claws. She wanted to scrape the annoying expression off his handsome face.

  Instead, she scooped up her coat and lunged out of the booth. “Oh!”

  To hell with him.

  “Well?” His impatient tone yanked her to a stop, goaded her.

  Her heart thumped once. Deviousness had her swirling back around. So, he didn’t think anything she said would affect him, did he? She was going to give him the shock of his life.

  She took a step forward, leaned toward him, and whispered, “Brianna is your daughter.”

  Buy The Christmas Match

  COMING SOON IN THE CASTLE RIDGE SERIES!

  The Playboy Switch

  The Marriage Merger

  If you love young adult romance with fantasy and adventure, try Allie Burton’s two young adult series FREE!

  Excerpt from

  Atlantis Riptide

  Lost Daughters of Atlantis

  Book 1

  by Allie Burton

  When a girl runs away from the circus…

  For all her sixteen years, Pearl Poseidon has been a fish out of water. A freak on display for her adoptive parents’ profit. Running away from her horrible life, she craves one thing—anonymity. But when she saves a small boy from drowning she exposes herself and her mutant abilities to Chase, a budding investigative reporter.

  Now, he has questions. And so do the police.

  Once Pearl discovers her secret identity, she learns she’s part of a larger war between battling Atlanteans. A battle that will decide who rules the oceans. A battle raging between evil and her true family. Will she find a way to use her powers in time to save a kingdom she never knew existed?

  This is the start of a young adult fantasy action adventure novel series. “Free sweet summer young adult paranormal with death-defying underwater rescues.” Reviewer

  Excerpt:

  The sea otter twirled around behind me. His cold snout bumped me on the back.

  “Are you trying to tell me something?” The question sounded so stupid leaving my tongue. I’m mean, come on, talking to an animal?

  He swam back in front and nodded his head up and down. Yes.

  I reeled back and caught my breath. I was talking to a sea otter.

  The otter ducked under and swam around me in a circle. Then, he lay on his back and used his paw in a “come here” motion.

  I ducked under and swam in a circle around him. He circled again, and so did I. We were swimming in a constant figure-eight pattern under the water.

  Unbelievable. I was playing with a sea otter. My spirits soared. My smile widened. Like being a five-year-old at a playground, I’d made my first real friend.

  Not that the otter was a human friend, but it counted. Didn’t it?

  Following for a bit, I stopped when I realized he headed to shore. “I don’t want to go back yet.” I wasn’t ready to leave the comfort of the water and return to my lonely tent.

  The sea otter shook his head fast in an agitated motion. Even his furry face appeared upset.

  “Can’t we play longer?” I remembered reading about sea otters and how they played. Slipping and sliding and diving. Turning and twisting underwater, kind of like I’d done earlier.

  He did the “follow me” motion again. Then his eyes grew wide and his whiskers twitched.

  I twisted around, but saw nothing. The fog had rolled closer to shore, but the stars and the moon still gave off a little light. A small motor boat sounded in the distance.

  I faced him again. “What’s wrong?”

  The sea otter was gone. My furry friend had left me.

  Alone, again.

  An ache tore through my chest and I sniffed. “That’s okay. I’m used to being by myself.”

  The water around me swirled. Waves gathered in a big circle, expanding out in further and further concentric loops. The pattern repeated with more strength and velocity. Like a toilet being flushed, the water pooled into a vortex.

  My body caught in the current. I couldn’t move out of the circle, surrounded by a ring of water. My tummy churned with the motion. My gaze glazed over watching the water go round and round like a hypnotist’s trick.

  A strange sensation sucked at my toes. The feeling continued up my legs to my hips. I kicked and clawed but the water tugged like a ginormous vacuum at the bottom of the ocean.

  Panic spurted through me, exploding in my flaying arms and legs. I kicked. I stroked. I screamed. Nothing helped. My super strength wasn’t helping at all. I couldn’t fight this weird force.

  I knew about the dangers of swimming alone. Knew about dangerous ocean currents. Knew the rules.

  But they didn’t apply to me. I was different.

  And so was this force that had me in its grip.

  My heart began a pointless race against disaster. None of my other limbs could move. I couldn’t get free.

  As I went down, I remembered dreams of being dragged under the ocean. The people in my dreams looked normal, nice. Not a faceless, evil suction. Terror froze every one of my muscles. I couldn’t struggle, couldn’t swim, couldn’t even think.

  Could this be a deadly riptide, or something even more ominous? Irony struck. How could I drown when I could breathe underwater?

  Buy Atlantis Riptide

  Excerpt from

  SOUL SLAM

  Soul Warriors

  Book 1

  by Allie Burton

/>   An ancient Egyptian amulet.

  A pharaoh’s soul inside demanding she obey.

  A double cross that ends with a curse.

  On her first heist to steal an ancient Egyptian amulet, sixteen-year-old Olivia inadvertently receives the soul of King Tut…and the deadly curse that comes with it. And Olivia’s not alone at the museum.

  A member of a secret society, Xander believes it’s his place to inherit King Tut’s soul and justly rule. He knows nothing about the society’s evil plan to control the world or the curse. Now, he must deal with the female thief who stole the amulet.

  When the two teens find themselves up against the secret society, they reluctantly join forces and must figure out how to end the curse before it turns deadly. On the run and unable to touch because of the curse, Olivia and Xander develop a connection during their quest.

  As the mystery surrounding the amulet unfolds, Olivia and Xander fall for each other. But is love enough to save them and the world from destruction?

  “If you are a fan of Rick Riordan books about a quest with love and history thrown in…this is for you!” – Hooked In A Book Review

  Excerpt:

  Crawling ninja-style out of the sarcophagus, my black gym shoes hit the ground without a sound. But inside, a screech built up in my lungs and released on a heavy exhale, the scream so loud it sounded like an alarm. “Aiyeeeeee!”

  Xander and the old man froze.

  I lunged at the case, swooped in, and grabbed the amulet.

  A jolt rocked my body. Pain rocketed up my spine, but I held tight to the prize. Clutching the piece in both hands, I hit the concrete floor like a football player making a catch, and kept rolling.

  “A girl.” Xander’s surprised voice rose on a high note. “What the…Tut.”

  “Grab her!” The old man spoke in English.

  “Touch her?” Xander sounded horrified like I was the slime of the world. “I can’t.”

  “She’s got the amulet.”

  I tried to get to my feet, but the pulsing inside threw me off balance. I crashed back onto the floor. Pain seared my fingers and heat rushed my veins.

  My body jerked. My head spun.

  Something slammed into me from the inside, like it was in my body trying to get out. Back and forth I jerked. A powerful energy thumped from my ribcage to my stomach and back again.

  I trembled from head to foot. My vision blurred. Images swam before my eyes—a blue river, golden statues, Egyptian pyramids, deceit, and death.

  “What’s going on?” The sound coming out of my mouth warbled. “Am I dying?”

  This felt worse than the time I had pneumonia with no medicine, or the time I broke my arm and Fitch duct taped it…

  Fogginess seeped into my consciousness. If I blacked-out they’d steal the amulet, leave me to be caught, to go to prison, to face Fitch’s wrath.

  Whatever was inside me ignited like a nuclear bomb. My skin could no longer contain my insides. I’d explode into tiny pieces and scatter across the museum floor.

  “It’s happening… To. Her.” Jeb’s voice was faint as if coming from a distance, but I saw his shoes through squinted eyelids.

  “But it’s my right. My inheritance.” Xander stomped his sandaled foot near my head. “My destiny.”

  “It’s too late.” Jeb’s voice curled like a sneer with extra hatred. “The transfer has occurred. This stupid girl is now in possession of King Tutankhamun’s soul.”

  Buy Soul Slam

  Other Books by

  Allie Burton

  A Castle Ridge Small Town Romance Series

  The Romance Dance

  The Christmas Match

  The Flirtation Game

  The Playboy Switch – Coming soon!

  The Marriage Merger – Coming soon!

  Soul Warriors Series

  Soul Slam

  Tut’s Trumpet

  Peace Piper

  Cleo’s Curse

  Lost Daughters of Atlantis Series

  Atlantis Riptide

  Atlantis Red Tide

  Atlantis Rising Tide

  Atlantis Tide Breaker

  Atlantis Dark Tides

  Atlantis Twisting Tides

  Atlantis Glacial Tides

  Acknowledgements

  Switching from young adult to contemporary romance has been an exciting journey. I want to thank those who encouraged me to make the change, who helped me distinguish the differences between writing first person young adult and third person romance, and who assisted me with the learning curve of writing something different. Through the process, I have grown as a person and as a writer.

  Thanks to my developmental editor, Caro LaFever, who pushed me to dig deeper into the character’s emotions, careers, and backstories. Who also read each of the Castle Ridge books twice! Thanks to Addison Fox, for her encouragement and critiques. Her knowledge of the romance genre is undeniable. And thanks to Tanya Saari, my proofreader, without her I’d have commas in all the wrong places.

  Finally, thanks to my husband, who is the hero in my own romance.

  About the Author

  Allie Burton has always been a reader and writer. She wrote her first novel at the age of twelve when she was stranded at a hospital by a snowstorm. Receiving her first romance from her grandmother, she fell in love with the genre. As an adult, she read young adult books with her own teens and was excited to find something fresh and new. Now, she writes both.

  Having so many jobs as a teen and adult became great research material for the stories she writes. She has been everything from a bike police officer to a professional mascot escort to an advertising executive. She has lived on three continents and in four states and has studied art, fashion design, and marine biology.

  Allie is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Romance Writers of America. She loves to ski, golf, and run. Currently, she lives in Colorado with her husband and two children.

  www.allieburton.com

  www.twitter.com/Allie_Burton

  www.Facebook.com/AllieBurtonAuthor

  www.wattpad.com/AllieBurton