Today we are celebrating the upcoming release of The Sutherlands (March 15, 2016) with a special excerpt.
Inside The Sutherlands you’ll find:
Shadow Ranch by USA Today best selling author Robin Covington – Passion and secrets thrive in the dark…
Wrecked by Wall Street Journal best selling author Terri Osburn – Revenge is always personal…
Bound To Do Damage by Avril Ashton – When protecting you heart is no longer an option…protect your neck.
Foolish Expectations by Alison Bliss – Forever is the last thing they expected…
Under the Evening Star by Shyla Colt – They must choose between the past that hunts and a love that can heal…
Brazen by Avery Flynn – This bad boy boxer just met his match…
Screwed by Kelly Jamieson – The only time losing is more fun than winning is when you’re fighting temptation…
Stripped by Abby Niles – She’s going to strip him bare…
Not the Marrying Kind by Julie Particka – Faking it never felt so good…
Lust and Loathing by Joya Ryan – Sometimes loathing your boss turns into the best kind of lust…
Sweet Surrender by Naima Simone – The price of surrender is passion…
Looking for a way to do good and read hot? Check out The Sutherlands, a sexy contemporary romance anthology that tells the story of one family with 11 brand-new, full-length novels and novellas for only 99¢. Twenty percent of the royalties earned from each sale will go to the Reach Out & Read charity, which incorporates early childhood reading into well child doctors’ visits.
Screwed by Kelly Jamieson
The only time losing is more fun than winning is when you’re fighting temptation…
Cash Hale has been in love with his best friend’s wife forever. Now Callie and Beau are divorced, but she’s still way off limits. Cash can never betray his friendship with Beau.
Callie Sutherland is starting over. The end of her marriage was just one more way she failed to lived up to her wealthy family’s expectations, so from now on she’s not even going to try. All her life she tried to do what her family wanted, seeking approval and attention from parents who were too busy to care. Now she’s going to live her life the way she wants. And she wants Cash.
Cash and Beau aren’t just friends, they’re business partners, and the drop in the price of oil has hurt the economy and their business. They need this big project for the Sutherland oil refinery. Not only is Cash risking his friendship to be with Callie, he’s risking their business. But Callie is hotter than a firecracker on the Fourth of July, sweeter than the cakes she loves to bake, and impossible to resist. He’s screwed…
Excerpt:
Cash pulled out a chair and sat. “I saw you come out here just as I walked in. You okay, darlin’?”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to?”
“I’m not crying.”
He lifted on eyebrow.
She swiped her fingertips beneath one eye. “Okay, just feeling a bit blue. Not really in a mood to celebrate.” She grimaced in an attempt to smile.
After a short silence, Cash said, “Do you still love him, Callie?”
“No.” She shook her head. “To be honest, I was thinking earlier that I’m not so sure I ever did love him.”
“Course you did.”
She smiled. “Yeah, I guess I did, sort of. I don’t know. But over the last year…I’ve done a lot of thinking about stuff.”
“While you were in France. And Italy. And Greece.”
“Yeah.” She traced her index finger over the wicker arm of the chair. “And since I’ve been back too. I think I’m going to get a tattoo.”
“Jesus.” Cash frowned. “Are you drunk?”
“Uh…yeah. That’s what a divorce party is for, right?”
“Hell if I know.”
“My mama will freak if I get inked. Maybe I should get a piercing too.” She tapped her chin. “Where would be a good place to get pierced?”
“Make sure you go somewhere reputable and clean—”
“No, I mean on my body. You know…like, my belly button? Or my nipples?”
“Christ.” Cash rubbed his face.
“And I need a new job. I need a whole new life.”
“You are drunk.”
She laughed, feeling more at ease. “I thought we established that.”
“Uh huh.”
“I just don’t know what kind of job I want. Or what I can do.”
“I thought Manon offered you your old job back.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure. Working in an upscale clothing boutique is just what my mother thinks I should do.” She sighed.
“I’m getting the feeling some of this is about rebelling against your parents.”
She snorted. “You make me sound like a teenager.”
“Just sayin’, darlin’.”
She sighed. “Okay, maybe it is. I just…I just…” Her throat closed up. She rubbed her nose. “I just want to be my own person. Oh fuck, I do sound like a teenager.”
“Cass. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know! This party just made me feel like a big failure.”
“You are not a failure. Your marriage ended because Beau fucked up.”
“He wouldn’t have done that if…” She swallowed.
“Don’t even say it. He fucked up. It wasn’t your fault.”
She pressed her lips together, her throat aching. “My parents wanted us to be married. They wanted me to marry a guy they approved of, and Beau was perfect. My parents have been together for thirty years.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “When I told Mama I was splitting up with Beau because he cheated on me…she told me that my daddy had had affairs with other women. And it was no big deal. You just ignored it and carried on and made everything look good.”
Cash closed his eyes, his mouth tightening, grooves deepening on his face.