Sports + Bad Boy +
Second Chance
The
Hard Way by Katie Ashley NOW AVAILABLE!
Amazon
US: http://amzn.to/2bAuwiA
Amazon
UK: http://amzn.to/2bzDAWm
Blurb
Cade Hall has always been the golden boy of the gridiron. Because of his talent at
football, coupled with his father’s wealth, he’s always gotten his way. But when a night
of drunken debauchery lands him in hot water with the college athletic board, neither
his influential father nor his charming grin can save him. Cade finds it a total buzz kill
when he is sentenced to community service with troubled youth at an inner-city shelter.
But his nightmare is only beginning when his greatest high school regret is the very
one in charge of the program, and she has him by the balls in more ways than one.
For Avery Prescott, senior year was a nightmare of epic proportions, and Cade Hall
played the lead villain. After she fled her small town for college in the bright lights of
Atlanta, she thought she had escaped the painful memories of her past. She never could
have imagined Cade would waltz through the door of the outreach program she
presided over. But Avery has news for Cade—she isn’t the same shy, doormat of a girl
she was in high school. Since she holds Cade's football future in her hands, she’s more
than ready to make payback a real bitch.
Will they stay in the defensive zone or discover that sometimes life's greatest lessons
are learned the hard way?
Nikki's 5 Star Review
her stories. The Hard Way is a second chance sports romance with a political edge to it.
It's a story that will send you on a rollercoaster of emotions and it did fetch a tear to my
eye at times.
Cade Hall and Avery Prescott attend the same school but couldn't be more different.
Cade is the golden boy of his school's football team, he's from a wealthy political
family, he's arrogant and a player with the ladies.
Avery is more refined from a down to earth family and has had to work hard for what
she's achieved. When they are thrown together to work on an assignment sparks fly
and Avery gets to know the real Cade Hall, the one he hides from everyone else, he's
kind, gentle and he's definitely someone she can see herself falling in love with. They
are soon falling for each other and when Avery gives him her virginity she hopes its
the start of something beautiful, what she doesn't expect is for Cade to never contact
her again.
Fast forward a few years and Cade hasn't grown up in the slightest when a prank lands
him in hot water at school he finds himself having to volunteer at The Ark a place for
underprivileged youngsters and who should work there but Avery. Cade broke her
heart but ddep down she's never stopped loving him but that doesn't mean she will
make it easy for him, can Cade do the right thing this time and show Avery that he's
worthy of her forgiveness and prove his love for her?
Excerpt
“Is this one of
those old-timey record players?”
“A Victrola,” I
answered as I joined him.
Cade snapped his
fingers. “That’s right. There was one of these at my
grandparents’ house.” He eyed the contraption curiously. “Does
it work?”
“Sure.” I set my
cup down before winding up the crank. Then I placed the needle on the
record, and a slow instrumental tune came out of the Victrola’s
horn. At Cade’s groan, I grinned. “Not a fan of classical music?”
“No. It’s more
about the fact that it’s one of Strauss’s waltzes.”
Cocking my brows at
him, I asked, “You know Strauss?”
With a snort, Cade
said, “Don’t look so surprised, and no, I didn’t learn about
him in Harlington’s music appreciation class either.”
I held up my hands.
“I wasn’t alluding to anything.”
“Yes, you were
alluding, as you say, to the stereotype of me being an uncivilized
jock,” Cade teased in a snooty-sounding voice.
“I’m sorry. I’ve
got to stop doing that. You really are so much more than a jock.”
He swept his hand to
his heart. “Why, thank you.”
“So tell me how
you know Strauss.”
“I have waltzed at
ten cotillions and three debutante balls.”
“Wow. That’s
quite impressive.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve never been
to a cotillion or deb ball.”
“No, I mean,
haven’t you ever waltzed before?”
I laughed. “Oh
yeah, I often practice my dance skills out in the corn.”
“Every lady should
know how to dance.”
“But I’m not a
lady.”
Cade smiled. “Yeah.
You are.” When I started to protest, he said, “Money and position
aren’t what make a lady. It’s what’s inside you that counts.”
His words and his
tone caused the breath to wheeze out of my lungs. Just when I thought
he couldn’t surprise me any more with the things he said, he went
and said something like that. “Thank you,” I finally mumbled.
“You’re
welcome.” The world seemed to slow to a crawl around us as we stood
there staring at each other. The sound of Cade clapping his hands
together caused me to jump. “Okay. One waltz lesson coming up.”
“I’m going to
warn you that you’re probably going to regret this. I’m the worst
dancer ever.”
“How can anyone
who plays the piano suck at dancing?”
“I’m not sure
how it’s possible, but trust me, it is.”
Cade laughed. “We’ll
see.”
A tingling jolt of
electricity shot through me when Cade took one of my hands in his.
After he put his other hand on the small of my back, he drew me
closer to him. Even with all the times I had sat next to him while we
worked on our project, I hadn’t been this close.
“Now you put your
other hand on my shoulder.”
“Okay.”
“Step back with
your left foot and then bring your right to the side.” After I
followed Cade’s lead, he said, “Now bring your left foot to your
right, and then step forward with your right.”
My mind spun as I
frantically tried processing Cade’s instructions. Somehow it
managed to click together, and I followed his lead. “Hey, you’ve
got it,” he remarked with a smile.
“It’s not
because of me—it must be the teacher.” I glanced up at him and
smiled. “Sports, brains, and dancing; you’re really a true triple
threat.”
“You forgot
devastating good looks and charm.”
I grinned. “Does
that make you a quintuple threat?”
“Make it a
sextuple threat if you throw in the money.”
“I should have
known you’d find a way to have ‘sex’ in your title.”
Cade threw his head
back and laughed. “Always busting my balls, Prescott.”
“Yep. Just
consider me your Little Ball Buster like Judith in Walking
Dead
was called Little Ass Kicker.”
Cade’s brows rose
in surprise. “You watch Walking
Dead?”
“Sure I do.”
“That surprises
me.”
“Why?”
“I guess I just
figured you only watched pretentious stuff like Downton
Abbey.”
“Downton Abbey
is not pretentious.”
Cade grinned. “I’ll
take that as a yes that you watch it.”
“I certainly do.”
“At least I’m 1
and 1 on picking the TV shows you like.”
“While you know me
pretty well, you have a lot more to learn, Mr. Hall,” I teased.
“I look forward to
you educating me.”
As I stared into his
face, Cade’s expression grew serious. The idea of educating him
suddenly seemed to take on a deeper meaning—one of both mental and
physical knowledge.
Cade dipped his head
to where our mouths were just inches apart. His breath fanned across
my cheek, causing me to shiver. I stared into his eyes, silently
pleading with him to go ahead and kiss me. We’d already been down
this road before. Since Thanksgiving night, I’d wanted nothing more
than to feel his lips on mine again.
When he finally
kissed me, it sent energy humming all over my body. I’d kissed
other boys, but it had never felt the way it did with Cade. It was
all-consuming of my mind, body, and spirit.
Considering his
experience, it shouldn’t have been too surprising that Cade was a
good kisser. What surprised me the most was the emotion behind his
kiss. It ran so much deeper than just a physical act, as if he was
putting his heart and soul into kissing me.
Cade deepened the
kiss by plunging his tongue into my mouth. It tangled along with mine
in a waltz of its own composing. My hand snaked up his back to
capture the hair at the base of his neck, and I ran my fingers
through the silky strands, marveling at how much softer it was than I
had imagined.
The Victrola ran out
of steam, and the only sound filling the room was heavy breathing. At
the loss of music, Cade stopped leading me around the floor, and his
hands slid underneath my buttocks. He gripped the globes of my ass
before hoisting me up to wrap my legs around his, and I molded myself
tighter against him. I couldn’t seem to get enough of him—the way
his strong arms felt around me, his thick waist against my legs, his
broad, muscular back underneath my hands. Even though I knew I
shouldn’t, I wanted all of him.
When we crashed into
a chest of drawers, Cade momentarily released my lips to breathlessly
ask, “Are you okay?”
“Mmhmm.” I gazed
into his hooded eyes. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
I rubbed myself
against the ridge in Cade’s pants, causing him to groan against my
throat. “Jesus, Prescott, if you keep doing that, I won’t be able
to stop.” When I did it again, my action was rewarded with a growl.
Cade’s wild eyes
glanced around the room before leading us over to the wide red settee
in the back corner. We collapsed onto the smooth velvet material. I
widened my legs to allow Cade’s hips between them and his mouth
sought out mine in a frantic kiss.
As our tongues
battled against each other, Cade’s hand came to my breast. He
kneaded and cupped it over the fabric of my uniform, my nipples
hardening under his touch. When he began undoing the buttons of my
dress, he broke the kiss to glance at me as if asking my permission.
At my nod, he practically ripped the remaining buttons open.
He gave me a
sheepish grin as he pulled me into a sitting position. “Sorry about
that.”
“It’s okay,” I
said as I slid my arms out of the sleeves.
My breath hitched
when Cade’s arms snaked around my back to undo my bra. Once it was
unhooked, I couldn’t help bringing my arms to cover my chest and
keep the bra in place. I hated that in this moment I couldn’t seem
to get past my modesty, or my fear that my average-sized chest would
turn him off.
Cade tilted my chin
with his fingers, forcing me to look him in the eye. “You sure
you’re okay with this, Prescott?”
“I am, I promise.”
“Then what’s
wrong?”
“I’m just a
little scared,” I whispered.
“That I’ll hurt
you?” Cade questioned with a wounded look.
I gave a quick jerk
of my head. “That you won’t like what you see.”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been
with so many other girls. I’m afraid I won’t measure up.”
His expression
darkened. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”
I ducked my head.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help the way I feel.”
Cade cupped my face
in his hands. “There’s only right here and right now, and there’s
no one else but you and me. None of the past, just us and this
moment.”
My heartbeat
thrummed wildly at his sentiment. “Okay,” I murmured as I stared
deeply into his eyes.
“And you could
never not be beautiful to me. I like everything about you, both
inside and out.” At what must’ve been my incredulous look, Cade
grinned. “And I’m not just saying that so you’ll let me in your
pants.”
“I know you
wouldn’t.” Deep down, I knew it to be the truth. If Cade had
really wanted to just screw me, he would have attempted it over the
past two months.
“I wouldn’t be
here tonight if I didn’t want to be with you for the long haul.”
Once again, my heart
began to beat so erratically that I felt a little dizzy. “Really?”
He nodded. “You’re
all I need, Avery.”
About
the Author
Katie
Ashley is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Best-Selling
author. She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her daughter,
Olivia, and her two very spoiled dogs. She has a slight obsession
with Pinterest, The Golden Girls, Harry Potter, Shakespeare,
Supernatural, Designing Women, and Scooby-Doo.
With
a BA in English, a BS in Secondary English Education, and a Masters
in Adolescent English Education, she spent 11 1/2 years educating the
Youth of America aka teaching MS and HS English until she left to
write full time in December 2012.
GIVEAWAY
$25 Amazon Gift
Card
<a
class="rcptr"
href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/09964f03887/"
rel="nofollow" data-raflid="09964f03887"
data-theme="classic" data-template=""
id="rcwidget_7mt8srnh">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script
src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>
No comments:
Post a Comment