Chance of the Heart: Snippet Sunday & Blurb

Hey all!

Back again! Holy crap. So much going on! I want to thank everyone so very much for all the success of mine and Allison's novel from Dreampsinner, We Found Love. The reviews and the  sales have been fabulous and I appreciate everyone who went out and grabbed a copy. You're all wonderful.

My last solo project, Going Under, released at the end of the summer. Feels like such a long time, but I'm sure you all know, in this genre that IS a long time haha. Hard at work on the final book in the Keep Swimming Series, The Rising Tide, which will feature prickly Kent and freshly out Phil the cop (who was Kyle's ex). Proving to be quite fun. Working to get that one out for your spring breaks :). Then a big announcement regarding the sequel to Gangster Country. The Broken Kind will also feature Gianni and Logan as they go thru putting Gianni (and their relationship) back together after the events of GC. So... big things to come.

Which is why we're here. This is the first snippet sunday for my first book with a cowboy MC. Also, my first solo project of 2015. This novel, releasing in eBook and paperback on January 26 (sorry no pre-order), was a thrill to write and I can't wait to see what you all thing. I'll have a larger excerpt for you all later in the week. :)

First I give, those of you who haven't seen it, the cover and blurb for Chance of the Heart. Following the blurb and cover will be this week's snippet sunday. The snippet is when Chance has let curiosity get the best of him and wandered into a bar after his highschool sweetheart has called for them to take a break. He runs into an old friend that's gonna change his life.

Blurb:

Chance Becket's life was mapped out. He'd one day own the ranch he grew up on, have a family, and be the son he was raised to be, like all good boys in Small Town, U.S.A.

When his high school sweetheart calls for a break during her last semester of college, the last place Chance thought he'd end up was in his old friend Bradley's bed.

Bradley Heart blasted out of the closet before his family could name him heir apparent to his father's televangical mega-church. Going back into the closet, for any reason, is not on his list of things to do. But Chance may be too much a temptation, especially with the simmering feelings they’ve had for one another since they were teens.

Confused over his sexuality, Chance has to decide what’s more important -- loyalty to his his family and the path set forth, or the promise of happiness with not just the only man, but the only person, he's ever really wanted. For the first time in his life he's asking the hardest question of all: Is the path of least resistance enough?




Snippet:

This, this was why Chance hated when shit was uncertain. His damn fool self always lost his mind a little. Thinking things he shouldn’t, going places he shouldn’t.

Oh, yeah, he’d taken David’s advice. He’d gone to Abernathy. He’d even worn a polo with his jeans instead of his usual flannel. He’d always thought the baby blue brought out the color of his eyes. The way the short sleeves stretched over his biceps, the tight fit over his chest showing off the few assets he was confident in. Not that he put much thought into his looks. Why should he? He didn’t have anyone to impress. So why had it been important when he’d put them on tonight?

He didn’t listen about the boots, though. He thought his newest snakeskins looked good enough. And he most definitely didn’t think when David suggested he hit one of the bars on The Strip in Abernathy—obviously, a street lined with bars to make life easy for the inebriated bar-hopping college kids—that he come to this particular bar.

He didn’t know why he’d ended up in Bar None. There were honky-tonks and pubs, a couple of hole-in-the-walls, a juke joint. In stead, after a couple drinks at the steakhouse he’d had dinner with an old buddy at, he ended up in a gay bar. Granted, Bar None was known for having a mixed crowd, the straight girls probably thinking they were safe from getting hit on and the straight boys knowing that just was well as Chance who wasn’t even a regular.

But he hadn’t had eyes for a single girl since he’d been drawn like a moth to a flame to the dive bar with its rainbow flags and neon lights. He certainly wasn’t the biggest fan of the all diva line-up of tunes playing on the speakers, from Taylor Swift to some disco from the ‘70s.

He had no clue why he was there. I hate when things are uncertain.

He sipped on his third beer. Regardless of his reasons why he should or shouldn’t be there, he’d been posted up on a bar stool for about thirty minutes, thinking their dollar beers were as good as any. And the girls were pretty. At least he knew he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew at this bar.

If he was honest with himself, this wasn’t his first time being drawn into the bar. After his 21st birthday, he’d gone out once or twice with friends, only to end up at Bar None after they’d all petered out on him for the night. He did the same thing then as tonight, sitting on the edge, watching all the care free people enjoying their weekend night, not knowing what exactly he was looking for, what answers he needed. He had sex with a woman, enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t that often. He wasn’t gay. Maybe he just envied the worldliness of the people he saw in this particular bar. There wasn’t any macho posturing like the places he’d ended up with when he was out with the other hands from Red Creek.

Maybe he was just fucked up. He groaned and thumped his forehead with the long neck of his beer bottle.

“You doin’ okay here, cowboy?” the bartender asked. He’d been awful friendly since Chance had come in. He didn’t know why. It’s not like he was special to look at, and he sure couldn’t tell if the guy was hitting on him. He hadn’t even known Caitlin was until she’d flat out asked him to go to his junior prom with him.

“Oh, yeah. I’m good,” he said, probably barely heard above the music. The bartender took his empty bottle from him and offered a fresh one. He took it, not meeting the man’s gaze. He should really hightail it out and call the night a bust. You had to actually be looking for something to enjoy a night like this anyway. And he wasn’t gonna find the kinda of company he’d been encouraged to find in this place.

A gust of wind blew through as the front door opened and damn if Chance’s stomach didn’t tie up in knots when he saw who entered. He tried to convince himself he’d been stirred to life by the sexy blonde pixie of a girl with her tight black skirt and low cut top. His brain couldn’t even computer that it might actually be the tall, blond man behind her who cute a damn nice figure in a suit that probably cost more than the paycheck Chance cashed at the bank that afternoon.

Tall with broad shoulders, shoulders Chance knew you usually only got from doing work like his on the ranch. The man walked with an easy confidence, even if his face was a bit pinched, but that could be the lighting. He couldn’t make the man’s features out that clearly. His lady friend was laughing, though, sidling up to the other side of the bar, catching Chance’s eyes briefly before he averted them.

What the hell is going on? But something was familiar about the man. That had to be why he’d caught Chance’s attention. Had they crossed paths before?

“You doing okay, baby doll?” Another of the bartenders appeared in Chance’s line of sight. This guy was probably what you called a pretty boy, all long limbs, thin body and high cheeks. He had a teasing glint to his black-lined eyes. Chance didn’t get to say more than a word before the man leaned over the counter, running a finger up and down Chance’s forearm.

Chance froze. Well, that couldn’t be more forward if the guy kissed him right there. “You’re new. I know all the regulars. You here with anyone, honey?” Was he purring? Fuck.

“He’s with me, Terry,” a sexy baritone rumbled from a man who sat down in the barstool beside Chance. Chance’s eyes must have gone wide because the man who’d come to his rescue smiled widely, winking.

Holy shit. It was the guy he’d just been staring at, the one who was undoing him just being a foot away from him. The man looked like a Western version of James Dean with gold skin and blond hair in a dapper hair style. Like a cowboy who’d been thrust into a fancy suit, a rebel who’d been tamed and given a cause.

“Of course he is, Bradley,” the flirty bartender said, pouting. Chance gave the bartender an apologetic shrug, still not sure why he was going along with it.

Wait.

“Bradley?” he asked, snapping his head in the direction of his Knight in Shining Armani. “Bradley Heart?”

The man reared back a little, blinking in surprise, then that sinful smile stretched across his face in recognition. Chance was trying not to shit himself. “Chance fucking Becket!”

Okay. That's it :)

Stay tuned. More to come :)

Chance of the Heart

Coming January 26!

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