Las Vegas Layover (7 page)

About the Author

Eva Siedler was born in Columbus, Ohio, to parents who enjoy the kind of epic love most people only read about. She didn’t inhale books like her mother and older brother or scribble stories in a notebook during study hall. Because writing necessitated reading, and she hated reading. It wasn’t until her own love story unfolded and a colicky baby kept her up nights that Eva discovered what good fiction can do for the soul.

Three years later, with a toddler on each knee, she penned her first novel. Since then she’s traveled the country learning all she can from fellow writers and developing some of the deepest friendships of her life along the way.

Writing wasn’t the path she imagined. It’s the path she was born for, and so much better than she could have dreamed.

She still lives near Columbus with her very own sexy aircraft mechanic husband, two ornery boys, and a pair of needy dogs. Please visit her at
www.evasiedler.com
or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Will their second chance at love end up just the latest in a string of disasters?

She’s Going Home

© 2014 Isabelle Flynn

Ten years ago, Angie left coastal Easton, Rhode Island for calmer waters. She didn’t find them. Now a failed marriage, a stint in rehab, and a positive pregnancy test have her speeding toward the kind of comfort only home can give.

The welcome she expected didn’t include blue lights in her rearview mirror, much less the face of the man behind the badge. The man she’s spent ten years trying to forget.

A decade after he made the biggest mistake of his life, Nick Forest has come full circle. It looks like Angie, with her baby bump, has moved on, too. But that doesn’t stop his heart from teetering on the edge of falling for her all over again.

When the truth escapes the baggage Angie’s hiding it in, Nick sets out to prove he’s finally ready to help shoulder the load. But it’ll take more than a walk down memory lane to regain her trust—and convince her she really is home at last.

Warning: Caution: Small town ahead. Where nosy friends stay loyal, family always interferes and a gorgeous man in uniform is more than willing to protect and serve the girl of his dreams.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
She’s Going Home:

Just perfect. Five minutes in Easton and sirens announced Angie’s homecoming. She could still see the official welcome sign in her rearview mirror. This was definitely not how she’d planned her big arrival. Her chest tightened with the familiar worry. Money. A speeding ticket would break her tight budget.

Moving back had not been a strategic decision. Going by instinct alone, she had made a plan and refused any thoughts to the contrary. She was determined to find a safe place to settle down and for some reason, Easton was still her only home.

The figure in her side mirror reminded her exactly why she was pulled over on the side of Easton’s main road. The salty East Bay breeze greeted her as she slid the window down. She simply needed to convince the officer that there was no need to give her a ticket for speeding down the winding shore road. It had been a momentary lapse of judgment. It felt so good to open up the cherry-red sports car as it hugged the curves of the coastal road. So low to the ground, she had felt like she was hovering above the pavement.

She reached over for the tan Coach satchel and the matching wallet. If need be, she could always sell the set on eBay to pay off a ticket. It was one of the few things that remained from her old life. With the license in hand and a plan in place, she turned around. Her mind went blank as she came up close and personal with a very male crotch. She couldn’t help but notice it before tearing her gaze away. The first step in talking her way out of this ticket was not sexually harassing the cop.

“You were driving sixty in a forty-five mile-per-hour zone. May I see your driver’s license and registration?”

She leaned over and opened the glove compartment. Slips of paper landed on the plush carpeting. Her stomach churned as she waded through crumpled-up receipts and a few unopened pieces of mail. The car had to be registered.
Didn’t it?

It was the last piece of wrinkled paper stuck to a gum wrapper. She cheered silently and turned. The officer leaned down, close enough for her to smell his aftershave. His hand rested on her open window until he reached up for his sunglasses. Her heart jolted as he pulled them off.

Those brown eyes were heartbreaking in their familiarity.

“Nick.”

“Angie.”

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I mean, I didn’t know.”

“Your hair is different.”

Her fingers slid through the straightened, highlighted hair that her brown curls had become. One quick decision she had regretted almost as soon as she walked out of the salon. It just wasn’t her.

She wondered if he saw any of the other little changes ten years brings, and, of course, the biggest change of all. With that thought, she clutched her bulky sweater closer around herself.

“You look the same.” It was true. Mostly. If anything, the years had made him sexier. Broadened the wide shoulders of a teenager into those of a gorgeous man. Blaming her interest in his body on the uniform, she tried to move her attention back to the situation at hand.

“You don’t.” His eye focused on her hair.

She held off the need to pull it all back into a ponytail and tightened her hold on the steering wheel. She tried not to fidget as he looked her over.

“Are you visiting?”

“Yes. Well, no. I’m moving back.” His silence made her anxious. “Are you going to give me a ticket? I really hadn’t realized I was going that fast.”

His lips lifted up into a slight smile and her heart tripped over another beat. “Wouldn’t that be a little rude? Giving the girl I thought I was going to marry a ticket, especially after not seeing her for ten years.”

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Las Vegas Layover

Copyright © 2014 by Eva Siedler

ISBN: 978-1-61922-369-1

Edited by Jessica Corra

Cover by Syd Gill

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: November 2014

www.samhainpublishing.com