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Making
the Play
Hidden Falls #1
Hidden Falls #1
By: T.J. Kline
Releasing
September 27, 2016
Avon Impulse
Avon Impulse
BLURB:
T.J. Kline launches a brand new
series with the charming story of an NFL player who finds love when he least
expects it…
Grant
McQuaid has dedicated his entire life to his football career. Now an injury
threatens his place on the team and he’s forced to return home to rehabilitate.
But when he meets his “biggest fan,” a precocious, blue-eyed, hearing impaired
boy named James—and his beautiful mother, Bethany—Grant begins to question
whether football is the future he still wants.
Bethany
Mills has been doing just fine since her husband walked out on them… and she
definitely doesn’t need another man to disappoint her—or her son. But when
James runs into his hero at the park, Bethany admits there is a void in her
son’s life that she just can’t fill. Her attraction to the handsome football
star is undeniable, but a man in the limelight is the last thing she wants for
herself, or James.
Grant
doesn’t want to subject Bethany to the chaos of dating a professional athlete.
But the more time he spends with her and James, the harder it is to resist
making a play for her heart...
Grant
waited at his car for Bethany and James to finish up inside the classroom. He’d
spent the rest of lunch recess entertaining nearly forty kids who’d come
running over when they realized James knew a professional football player. The
smile that lit James’ face when he introduced Grant had been well worth the
discomfort he’d faced trying to explain why he was at the school to Bethany.
He couldn’t
blame her for being standoffish with him when she first saw him there. What
kind of weirdo showed up at your job the day after you told him to take a hike?
But something had shifted in her today. He’d seen it in her eyes when he tried
to explain why he’d come. Enough that he was willing to push his luck and see
if she wasn’t up for having ice cream today.
Grant saw
her heading toward her older model sedan in the school parking lot, juggling an
armload of books, papers and teaching supplies. James wore a small backpack
with a cartoon character he didn’t recognize on his little shoulders but
Bethany carried an overfilled tote bag that had to weigh more than she did.
“Hey! Here,
let me get that for you.” He hurried to her side, sliding the bag from her
shoulder. Apprehension colored her hazel eyes and, for a moment, he wondered if
she wasn’t going to tell him to leave again. Instead, she unlocked her car.
Grant
wasn’t sure if he should ask but knew it would look far more suspicious if he
didn’t now. “What are you guys up to? I thought maybe I could convince you to
get that ice cream today.”
James’ face
brightened and he looked up at his mother. “Can we?”
Bethany bit
her lower lip. “We can’t.”
Grant tried
not to take the second rejection to heart and nodded in understanding.
“Our
downstairs toilet broke this morning and I had to turn it off. Now I’ve got to
run to the store for the part and figure out how to fix it,” she explained.
Relief he
hadn’t expected coursed through him. Maybe she wasn’t shooting him down after
all. He let the corner of his mouth tip up playfully. “Ms. Mills, that sort of
sounds like a load of C-R-A-P,” he spelled, laughing at his bad pun.
Her eyes
widened but she smiled at his audacity. “Mr. McQuaid,” she scolded.
James
giggled beside her and Grant immediately realized his mistake. “Mom, he spelled
a bad word.”
“How did
he . . . never mind. I should have known this genius could spell
that,” Grant said, trying not to laugh. “How about if I help you fix your
toilet?”
She popped
open the truck, indicating that he should set her bag inside. “You want to fix
my toilet?” Bethany crossed her arms and leaned a hip against the side of the
car as she closed the trunk. “Really? That’s the line you want to go with?”
Grant
shrugged but the smile never left his lips. What was it about this woman and
her kid that made him feel so comfortably at ease? He hadn’t felt this relaxed
in a long time. She made it easy for him to forget about his injury, the
pressure of his upcoming training camp and his possible job loss.
“What do
you say, little man? You think between the two of us men, we can fix the toilet
for your mom?”
“Yes!” he
yelled cheerfully. James climbed into the back seat of the car and buckled
himself into his booster seat.
“I’ll meet
you at the hardware store.” Grant turned to walk back to his car.
“I’m not
going to get rid of you, am I?”
Grant
paused and looked back over his shoulder at her. “Why would you want to?” he
asked with a wink and jogged the rest of the way back to his car.
T. J.
Kline was raised competing in rodeos and Rodeo Queen
competitions since the age of 14 and has thorough knowledge of the sport as
well as the culture involved. She writes contemporary western romance for Avon
Romance, including the Rodeo series and the Healing Harts series. She has
published a nonfiction health book and two inspirational fiction titles under
the name Tina Klinesmith. In her very limited spare time, T.J. can be found
laughing hysterically with her husband, children, and their menagerie of pets
in Northern California.
Author's Favorite Scene
As if the thought conjured her from thin air, Grant heard
the front door close and the soft clomp
of her shoes on the tile floor as she made her way into the living room. He
cracked one eye open just enough to see her bend over and take off her shoes,
kicking them to the side, before padding over the carpet to the couch to peer
down at him. She bent over, not realizing the view she gave him as her blouse
fell forward. His mouth dried up and he tried to force himself to look away
from the delicate curve of the top of her breast and the barely-there
decorative trim at the edge of her bra.
“Grant,” she whispered as she reached for his arm, shaking
him slightly.
He opened one eye and smiled, tugging her down onto the
couch cushions beside him. “I’m awake, but that boy tired me out. I don’t know
how you do it every single day.”
“He can be a handful sometimes.” She laughed softly.
Grant slid his arm around the back of the couch and fought
back a groan when she dropped her head against his shoulder. There was nothing
inherently intimate about the gesture but the fact that it seemed so natural
made him want to pull her closer against his chest and he forced himself to
stifle the urge.
“So, how was the date?” He tipped his face toward her but it
only resulted in the sweet scent of her perfume filling his lungs. It was like
sunshine and honey, warm and sweet. Without realizing it, his fingers slid over
her shoulder, caressing the curve of her neck.
“It was . . . nice.”
“Honey, guys don’t want to hear a woman say a date was nice.”
He gave a quiet chuckle. “That’s a sure sign you’re being friend-zoned if there
ever was one.”
He could feel her smile against his shoulder, even through
his cotton shirt, but she didn’t look up at him. “I’ll have to keep that in
mind for the next time. It has been a
while since I did this. I think I’ve almost forgotten how.”
“It’s like riding a bike. As soon as you start, it will all
come back to you. The coy glances, the flirty smiles. I’ve seen them from you
so I know you know how.” Heat pooled in his groin and he fought the urge to lay
his cheek against the top of her head. It was too comfortable with Bethany; it
felt too right.
She pulled away and looked up at him. “I have not.”
“The hell you haven’t.” Grant laughed deep in his chest. “But
I’ll just chalk it up to you being out of practice and its being an accident.”
He pulled her close again, hating the emptiness he felt when she’d sat up and
cursing the circumstances that kept him from pursuing what he knew they’d both
regret later. “So, are you guys going out again?”
She tipped her face toward him, her hand resting against his
chest, and batted her lashes sweetly. “That depends on if I can get a sitter
again.”
“See, there you go.” He shook his head, berating her gently
with a laugh. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how to flirt,” he teased.
Longing kicked him in the groin. It took every ounce of
self-control he had to keep from kissing her. Even if she was joking, the pout
on her lips and the tenderness he saw in her eyes was enough to make him
forget. Forget football, forget leaving, forget what he needed. He wanted to
cup her face, to run his thumb over that lower lip she bit so often and taste
the sweetness he knew he would find in her mouth. If he waited even a moment
longer, his willpower would cave and they wouldn’t be able to find their way
back to this place. He needed to leave before he made a mistake he couldn’t
undo.
The reason this is one of my favorite scenes is because, it
is such a normal thing. Just a single mom coming home from a date. However,
it’s also such a great picture of the relationship developing between Grant and
Bethany. Even when they are trying to deny their attraction for one another,
trying to build on their friendship, neither can help that their hearts want
something completely different. They are drawn to one another, with undeniable
chemistry, and I simply couldn’t help rooting for them through the entire
story.
