Getting Lucky (40 page)
Authors: Erin Nicholas
Tucker groaned and Delaney elbowed him.
Hailey pointed a finger at them all. “This isn’t over.” Then she turned and paced to where Hope was standing. “I can’t believe you’re not taking my calls.”
“Uh…” Hope felt everyone’s eyes on her.
“Why is Hailey calling you?” TJ asked.
“To talk me into taking the job with Jason,” Hope told him.
“Jason offered you a job?”
She shrugged. “Guess I impressed him by delivering a baby in a front yard in the dark.”
“Uh huh.”
She squinted up at him. “What’s that mean?”
TJ shook his head. “Nothing.”
“He means that hot blonds are kind of Jason’s type,” Joe called.
“You mean the good-looking, funny, charming, intelligent doctor who’s returned home to serve the medical needs of his hometown?” Phoebe asked. “That Jason?” She gave TJ a huge grin.
TJ gave her an irritated look.
“He offered me a job as a
nurse
in the clinic here,” Hope said.
“Which you would be amazing at,” TJ said, hugging her against his side.
“Thank you.”
“I wasn’t calling to talk you into taking the job,” Hailey said, propping a hand on her hip.
“You weren’t?” Hope frowned.
“I assumed you were going to take it,” Hailey said. “What with being in love with TJ and all.”
“Then why were you calling?” Hope asked.
“To talk you into taking it
part-time
so that you can also do things with your oils and acupressure and yoga.”
Hope stared at her. “Really?”
“My feet and back haven’t felt this good in years.”
“That’s…great.” Hope was amazed. It all felt really good. Right.
“Hey, yeah.” Ty approached. “I heard about this oil stuff,” he said. “Tuck said something about incredible orgasms afterward.”
“Tucker!” Delaney exclaimed.
“I did not!” Tucker protested.
Ty gave him a look. Tucker glanced at Delaney. Then he sighed. “I didn’t say that
exactly
.”
“Then again, I’d better be careful with anything that makes me even better,” Ty said thoughtfully. “That could be dangerous.”
“You’re such an ass,” Hailey muttered.
“Oh my God. Please make it stop,” TJ moaned.
Hope laughed. “How do you feel about a quick trip to Arizona?” she asked him. “I have a few things I need to pack up in Sedona for my move.”
“There’s going to be a move?” He looked down at her with a look that made her catch her breath.
“I think there is. Another adventure.”
“This adventure is going to take a while,” he said, as if warning her.
“The one to Arizona?”
He looked at the group gathered in his front drive. “Yes,” he said. Then he focused on her again. “But I also mean the one with the two of us. Wherever life takes us.”
She nodded. “I happen to be available for the next hundred years or so.”
TJ opened his mouth to reply.
“By the way, the bed in there is awesome, TJ,” Tucker said, ruining the moment.
“Tucker, Joe and I all fit on that bed, and we could have squeezed a hot blond or brunette in easy,” Ty added.
“What about a redhead?” Phoebe asked.
“Well, we would have had to boot Tuck out for that. I know from personal experience that you need
extra
room to move when a redhead’s involved,” Joe said.
Phoebe laughed and kissed him.
TJ groaned again. “
Seriously
. We’re taking the long way to Arizona. And back.”
Hope just grinned. The important thing was that they were coming back.
Getting Over It
Sapphire Falls book six
coming in August!
Hailey Conner has been driving Ty Bennett crazy for years. And vice versa.
It’s kind of their thing. But Ty is ready to make their thing into something more. And he’s moved in next door to make it happen.
But is he
really
ready?
Ty loves the confident, sassy, sexy mayor’s Ice Queen act…because he loves making her melt. But he soon finds there’s more underneath all that frostiness. And things are about to come to a full boil…
Pre-order Getting Over It here!
About the Author
Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say they’re shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).
You can find Erin on the web at
www.ErinNicholas.com
,
on Twitter (
http://twitter.com/ErinNicholas
)
and on Facebook (
https://www.facebook.com/ErinNicholasBooks
)
More from Erin Nicholas
Now Available at all book retailers!
Sapphire Falls
Getting In the Spirit, Christmas novella
Getting in the Mood, Valentine’s Day novella
The Bradfords
Just the Way I Like It (short story, 3.5)
Just What I Need: The Epilogue (novella, book 6)
Anything & Everything
Counting On Love
The Billionaire Bargains
Single titles
Promise Harbor Wedding
Boys of Fall
Out of Bounds
, Erin Nicholas
Going Long
, Cari Quinn
Free Agent
, Mari Carr
And enjoy this Excerpt from
Erin Nicholas’s Out of Bounds,
from the Boys of Fall series!
Out of Bounds
Boys of Fall
by Erin Nicholas
In a town where football is a religion, Jackson Brady, the star running back on the championship-bound team, was one of the deities. Until he pushed his luck a little too far and got caught—thanks to goody two-shoes Annabelle Hartington sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.
Now, twelve years later, it’s a no-brainer when Jackson is asked to return home to help after his beloved coach’s heart attack. Over his past mistakes, this is his opportunity to make up for everything. When he runs into Annabelle, Jackson realizes she’s his key to getting back into everyone’s good graces. If the respected teacher is willing to take a chance on him, everyone will know he’s a new man.
He just has to convince Annabelle an arrangement between them will be a win-win situation. And winning is something he takes
very
seriously…
Excerpt
Jackson Brady liked women. All women. All ages, shapes and sizes. Especially the ones who liked being women. The ones who loved their curves, who were comfortable in their own skin, who celebrated their femininity and sexuality. Women were wonderful. They were soft and smelled good and generally really liked him a lot as well.
Except for one very specific exception.
And she was the person who was going to decide his fate.
Again.
Son of a bitch
.
His morning meeting, the first step to becoming the new counselor for Quinn High School, was with Annabelle Hartington.
Of course it was.
His buddies were probably laughing their asses off right now. Particularly Joel and Carter, the bastards. They could have at least warned him.
Jackson had arrived in Quinn three days ago and during only their second private conversation, Coach had mentioned that the school was seeking a new guidance counselor. Jackson had been working with the high schools in Omaha counseling kids that were high risk for dropping out, gang activity, drugs, crime, suicide and more. Each school had their own guidance counselor but Jackson stepped in for the entire district for the really challenging cases.
He was more than qualified to counsel the kids in Quinn and it had only taken him ten minutes with Coach to realize that he was home to stay. This was his chance to be the person Coach had always believed he could be.
But first he had to get through Annabelle.
Jackson scanned her from head to toe. He hadn’t seen her in twelve years and she had
not
looked like this in high school. He liked women in three things—tight jeans, short skirts, or nothing at all. Not necessarily in that order.
None of those applied to the woman in front of him at the moment. Annabelle wore a flowing skirt that reached to her ankles, a loose blousy thing on top and a frown.
The skirt covered everything up but it was pretty and girly—two things he’d never associated with Annabelle before. Her hair was down and he honestly couldn’t remember ever seeing her hair in anything but braids or a ponytail. And he’d known this girl since kindergarten.
Her hair hung nearly to the curve of her lower back in gentle blonde waves that looked soft and feminine. For just a flash, Jackson wondered how her hair smelled. Like flowers, he’d bet. Or maybe strawberries.
He shook that off quickly. If he got close enough to smell Annabelle’s hair, she’d likely knee him in the balls.
He chalked up the crazy thought of smelling her to being a guy. He knew he had testosterone to spare and it often affected him in unfortunate ways—usually making him run his mouth, fight, drink, swear and screw.
He was proud of the fact that he had much more control now as a thirty-year-old man than he had when he’d last seen Annabelle at age eighteen, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still have urges.