Across the Line (In The Zone) (31 page)

Frowning, she mentally reviewed—matching red lingerie, check. Strappy high heels, check. Makeup, check.

“No there’s not. There’s nothing missing.”

“Yes, there is.”

That’s when she noticed his hand fisted around something. Curious, she took a few steps. It had to be small. An accessory. Earrings maybe, or a bracelet, or
—

Holy crap.

She gasped. He’d opened his hand to reveal a dazzling diamond ring. She put her hand over her heart as he went down on one knee.

“Calder...”

“No, don’t.” He gave her a nervous smile. “Don’t say anything or I might lose my nerve.”

She couldn’t work up the spit to talk anyway. This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t possible that this amazing man was asking her to marry him.

“So, it’s like this,” he began. “I can’t live without you. I tried to, too many times. When we first started seeing each other while living on opposite sides of the country, that was torture. All I could think about was all those miles between us. Then when we broke up, it was worse. I lived in a constant state of fear—fear that I’d see you and fear that I wouldn’t ever see you.”

Pressing her lips together, she nodded in agreement. She’d felt exactly the same way. That night when he’d walked out of her hospital room had been the most awful moment in her life. She’d felt as if her heart were being ripped out of her chest.

“So, I can’t do that again, Becks.” He took her hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Me either.”

“I need you in my life.” His face was awash with earnestness.

“I need you too.”

“I’m talking about forever, you know.”

She laughed, even though her eyes stung. “Calder, I’m not a dummy. I saw the ring.”

He laughed too.

Even though the diamond was large, the ring looked very small in his fingers. He loved her. He wanted to marry her. She felt a mixture of terror, excitement and disbelief, but mostly love as he turned the ring, stone up, and offered it to her. “So, what do you say? Will you marry me?”

Leaning forward, she cupped his face in her hands. “I thought you’d never ask.”

* * * * *

In the Zone is one book away from a hat trick! The game starts with
On the Surface...

On the Surface

Book one of In the Zone

NHL player Tim Hollander lost his temper one time and threw a water bottle at an abusive fan. After “Bottlegate,” he’s traded to the San Diego Barracudas, where he’ll need to keep the bad publicity to a minimum while proving he can still compete with the younger guys on the ice.

Erin Collier is a pediatric nurse who’s never seen a hockey game, but gets in line for Tim’s autograph at a PR event in hopes of impressing the doctor she has a crush on. When an obnoxious fan gets pushy toward Erin, Tim rushes to defend the pretty stranger, throwing a punch in the process.

Grateful for the rescue, Erin agrees to stand by Tim during the resulting press conference and host him at a hospital charity event. Their chemistry is palpable, and soon their lives are intertwined. But Erin doubts a hockey player is capable of anything resembling a real relationship. And if Tim can’t get her to see beyond what’s on the surface, they’ll never last longer than a single season...

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About the Author

Kate Willoughby is in love with the sport of hockey. And the entire Los Angeles Kings team. Having lived most of her life completely uninterested in professional sports, she is surprised at the intensity of her enthusiasm and her growing collection of Kings merchandise, which includes a collector card with a swatch from a Justin Williams game-worn jersey. Yeah. Don’t judge her.

She has held a variety of jobs—podiatrist’s assistant, telemarketer, typist, gift wrapper, painter, illustrator’s assistant, paste-up artist, calligrapher, teacher, transcriptionist and barista—but her favorite by far is author. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, their two sons and a Chihuahua named Mochi.

She is also a member of the Romance Writers of America and Los Angeles Romance Authors and winner of the 2009 EPPIE Award for Best Fantasy/Paranormal Erotic Romance.

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ISBN-13: 9781426898846

Across the Line

Copyright © 2014 by Kate Willoughby

Edited by Melissa Johnson

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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