Posts Tagged ‘Beauty and the Ballplayer’
It’s Saturday! That means it’s time for My Sexy Saturday. *Cue happy dance.*
The rules:
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words ONLY. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
Since I just turned BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER in to my my editor, it’s uppermost in my thoughts. This week’s sexy seven are part of a scene between Meg and Matt. They’ve just paused for a kiss in a Flagstaff park.
***
A whistle split the air, breaking the spell Matt had cast over her with his kiss. She looked in the direction from which it had come and saw a teenage boy grinning at them. He flashed them a thumbs-up.
Meg felt her cheeks get warm. “I think you have a fan.”
“Are you kidding? He’s probably staring at you. I’m just a guy. You’re the babe.”
There he went again, handing out unnecessary compliments. She rolled her eyes. “And you’re the baseball player. I bet he recognizes you.”
Matt shook his head and motioned at the kid, who edged closer to them, eyebrows lifted in an unspoken question. Matt asked, “Do you know who I am?”
When the teen shook his head and ambled off, Matt grinned. “Told you he was admiring you.”
“Or he was admiring your technique,” she shot back.
Beauty and the Ballplayer, coming in March 2014 from Turquoise Morning Press.
Thank goodness for My Sexy Saturday. Without its weekly posts, this blog would get none of my attention at all.
Does it matter that I’m waist-deep in the first draft of my third Love and Baseball story? It’s still untitled for now, but I’m falling for Anne Marie Becker‘s suggestion, SLIDING INTO HOME. It works on more than one level:
- The hero, Greg, who’s always done all he can to distance himself from his famous father, has to make peace with dear ol’ dad. He must find his way home—both figuratively and literally.
- And then there’s the obvious baseball analogy involving Greg and his heroine, Jenn. Will he score with her? (Would he be the hero of a sexy romance if he didn’t?)
What do you think? Do I have a winner with SLIDING INTO HOME?
I just got word from Turquoise Morning Press that they’ve slated my next two stories, BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER and the untitled masterpiece I’m currently writing madly, for March 2014 and April 2014, respectively. That’s just in time for a new baseball season …
But for now, I want to focus on my October release, DIVA IN THE DUGOUT*. For this week’s sexy seven, I’m returning to that deleted opening scene. After Dave and Mel had their fun, here’s how the morning after plays out.
***
She tiptoed around the room, gathering up her clothes. She found her skirt on the bathroom doorknob and her shirt on the floor beside the bed. Her bra dangled from the corner of the mirror. Her panties —
Where were her panties? She didn’t see them anywhere. They weren’t on the floor, or the chair or even the bathroom door. Wait — there they were, tangled in the sheet at Muscles’ feet. It looked like they were wrapped around his big toe.
Well, hell. She’d never get them back without disturbing his slumber.
Stifling a sigh, Mel slipped into the rest of her clothes and made her way to the door. Sans panties, she’d have to watch every step of the long walk home.
As she quietly closed the door behind her, she made a mental note to herself: Next time you’re having anonymous sex with a hot stranger, be more careful where you throw your clothes.
Or wear pants.
This time, Mel didn’t scoff at her conscience. Pants sounded like an excellent idea. If she ever wanted to have revenge sex with another hot, nameless stranger, she’d do it in denim.
DIVA IN THE DUGOUT, coming in October 2013 from Turquoise Morning Press.
*Scene not included in book.
Good morning, everyone. It’s Saturday, and you know what that means: Time to kick back with another round of My Sexy Saturday reads.
The rules:
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
To celebrate the sale of my 2011 Golden Heart-finaling manuscript, BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, to Turquoise Morning Press, here’s an excerpt.
In this scene, the book’s opener, Meg has just realized she’s pregnant and almost lost her job. She and her still-employed co-workers have hit the local watering hole to celebrate the fact that they still have jobs. But she’s feeling weak and needs to sit — and finds herself battling a sexy stranger for the only open table in the bar.
***
As Meg slid into the seat he’d so ungraciously offered, she ordered her unruly hormones to simmer down. A man was the last thing she needed tonight — or maybe ever again. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to stare?”
“Sorry.” The word was an apology, but he didn’t look the least bit contrite. “I can’t help staring at beautiful women. It’s my biggest character flaw.”
Beautiful? After the day she’d had — confirming she was pregnant, fighting off morning sickness … all day long … and dealing with a fresh round of layoffs at the foundering ad agency she worked for — even a blind man would know she looked like hell.
Despite her bad mood and his too-obvious pickup line, Meg found herself smiling at the guy. After all, it took guts to tell such a blatant lie — and it’d be nice to talk to a brave man for a change. Her ex, who’d run off to Vegas last month to try his hand at the professional poker circuit, had certainly been lacking in that department. Besides, with her friends otherwise occupied, she had nothing to do but make conversation.
After enduring his appraisal, she had no qualms about completing one of her own. She slid her gaze from the tuft of thick, chestnut hair poking through the back of his burgundy-and-white cap downward, over his golden-brown eyes, straight nose and smiling mouth. She took in his toned arms, broad chest, tree-trunk thighs and — oh my.
Perhaps he had good reason for his arrogance. Meg jerked her eyes back to his face. After they’d mentally stripped each other, it didn’t feel right to not know the man’s name. She extended her hand. “I’m Meg.”
He eyed her outstretched hand, his lips lifting again. She grinned back as she rescinded her offer. He was right: They already knew each other too well for a mere handshake.
Beauty and the Ballplayer, coming in 2014 from Turquoise Morning Press.
In case you missed the good news on Facebook, I signed another contract today. And this time, it was a multi-book contract.
That’s right: I sold not one but two more books in my baseball series, tentatively titled “All’s Fair in Love & Baseball,” to Turquoise Morning Press.
They sent me an email earlier in the week about wanting to offer me a contract for BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, my 2011 Golden Heart finalist. And when I responded “Absolutely, positively yes, I accept,” I also mentioned that I’d begun writing Book 3 in the series. I said it was still in the early stages, and as-yet untitled, but gave a quick rundown of the premise …
It’s the first baseman’s story — spoiled second-generation ballplayer trying to outrun his father’s long shadow. The heroine is his lawyer, whom he thinks is the exotic dancer he got busted for trying to defend. (The dancer’s her twin sister, though.)
— From my email
… And they loved the premise enough to pick it up sight unseen.
Gulp.
That’s both marvelous and frightening, since I’ve only got a few thousand words down right now. But I have a week-plus of vacation starting next Thursday, and I intend to get at least the bones of the story down while I’m off.
It’s probably a good thing I didn’t mention Book 4, since it’s not more than mere glimmer in my eye: I see an injured pitcher falling for his physical therapist … I have no idea how he got injured, though, and no clear idea of the heroine.
Soon, there’ll be three books of mine running free in the published world. Plus my indie-pubbed holiday novella … I’d better get back to work!
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