With: Teri Anne Stanley
Giveaway Alert!
Lucky Chance Cowboy
by Teri Anne Stanley
Publication Date: 1/28/2020
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Big Chance Dog Rescue #2
At Big Chance Dog Rescue, everyone can find a forever
home
Marcus Talbott is a soldier through and through, and
he's not going to let an injury keep him from his Army unit. Sure, his last
mission nearly broke his back, but that's nothing his positive attitude and
work ethic can't fix, right? In the meantime, he's got a place on the board at
the Big Chance Dog Rescue, and flirting with his friend's sassy sister, Emma,
is a welcome distraction.
Emma Stern is barely scraping by while working and
caring for her elderly grandfather, but she's running out of options—and hope.
The last thing she has time for is Marcus and his flirting, sexy as he might
be. But every time Emma thinks she's reached the end of her rope, Marcus is
there to lend a hand. Maybe there's more to the handsome playboy after all…
When Teri Anne Stanley isn’t writing sassy,
sexy, love stories from her home near Sugartit, Kentucky (which is between
Beaver Lick and Rabbit Hash. Seriously), she’s probably doing some sort of
arsty-crafsty thing and hanging with Mr. Stanley, her three favorite children,
and the dogs. Sometimes she’s masquerading as a day job science geek. She’s
definitely not cooking or cleaning.
Purchase
Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2sU3GvL
Apple: https://apple.co/2T3nCqG
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2QXwBqV
IndieBound: http://bit.ly/2SXXnSx
Excerpt:
Marcus’s
ridiculous vintage muscle car was parked in its usual spot next to the barn,
but he could have gone with Adam.
She
thought about calling again, but what would she say? “Hey, I stopped out at the
ranch to make sure you weren’t being held hostage by terrorists, but you’re not
here”?
No
thank you.
She
decided she’d say hi to Jake, then head home and fume until it was time to
fetch Granddad from day care. Day Club.
A
quick movement from the other side of the frosted glass next to the door made
her pause. She saw it again…a flash of something light passing by.
And
then she heard it. A light thump, followed by more movement. One of the dogs
was inside, jumping up and down by the window.
“Hey,
who’s that?” Emma asked, squatting to look.
Another
thump, and the flash—this time she realized it was a big, light-colored dog.
Adam’s
D-Day was black. Lizzie’s dog, Loretta, was white, but would be in the kennels
with her pups anyway. The only other option was Patton, Marcus’s big golden
retriever, who never barked. Like, ever.
He
was also trained to never leave Marcus’s side unless he were dismissed—or if
Marcus was injured and in need of help.
All
the paranoid fantasies she’d ever had about bad things happening to her family
squeezed Emma’s heart and lungs.
“Marcus?”
she called, pushing open the unlocked door and stepping into the dim interior
of the house.
The
dog stood panting and wagging at Emma.
There
was no obnoxious eighties hair-band music blasting from the kitchen, no
explosions and screams coming from the giant television and game console in the
living room. No creaks and groans from an old house giving clues to the
whereabouts of its inhabitants.
Patton
wagged and nudged her with his head, so she petted him. “Good boy. What’s going
on? Where’s Marcus?”
He
turned and padded toward the stairs, stopping to make sure she paid attention.
Was Marcus upstairs, somehow injured? The band around her chest tightened
another notch. She followed Patton, but by the time she reached the top step, a
thought occurred to her. What if Marcus wasn’t alone? What if he’d exiled Patton
because he had company?
It
was quiet in the house, but maybe Marcus and his guest were snuggled down,
enjoying some postcoital z’s while everyone else was working their asses off.
Well,
she was outside his door now, and she had to be sure he was safe.
On
Patton’s heels, she pushed open the door to her childhood bedroom and saw
Marcus laid out flat on his back, feet crossed at the ankles, hands folded
neatly on his hard stomach, eyes closed. He was sacked out so hard he didn’t
seem to be breathing.
But
Marcus wasn’t dead. He was living, breathing, and very warm, which she knew
because she’d somehow made her way to his side.
The
room smelled of spicy man and something she couldn’t quite put her finger
on…something dangerous.
Since
he was sleeping and not winking, smiling, or flirting with her, she gave
herself a moment to study him. He was beyond beautiful. His thick, black hair
was twisted into little corkscrews that normally bounced and bobbed like an
outward extension of his personality. Russet brown skin, large nose, square
jaw, and soft-looking, sensual lips that seemed to smile, even in sleep.
Before
she knew it, she’d reached out toward him, then stopped, feeling like a
creeper.
“Hi.”
“Oh
crap!” She jerked her hand back, but not before Marcus took her slim wrist in
his big hand.
“It’s
okay. I don’t bite,” he murmured, his gaze hooded. “Unless you ask me to.”
A
pool of heat formed low in Emma’s belly, chasing away her reason for being
there. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, though she didn’t even convince
herself.
“I’m
glad you did,” he said softly, slowly tugging the hand he held. She didn’t pull
away, intoxicated by his scent, the heat in his eyes. When he tugged her hand
again, she toppled onto his chest. To escape those half-mast eyes, she looked
down at his full, luscious lips, which opened to say, “You can kiss me if you
want.”
She
wanted. Oh, how she wanted as his hands spanned her waist, then traveled to her
hips. There was something unreal about this moment that made her believe she could kiss him, that it would be a good, good thing to kiss this
man.
***
Excerpted from Lucky Chance Cowboy by Teri Anne Stanley. © 2020 by Teri Anne Stanley. Used with permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of
Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.
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