Strike
Title:
Strike (The Completion Series)
Author: Holly S. Roberts
Release
Date: January 22, 2014
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19398787-strike
Synopsis:
Strike is the second book in the Completion
Series. There is no connection to Play (book I) except the sports theme. Strike
is a standalone HEA novel.
Nineteen-year-old Jaycee Shumway breaks into professional baseball player, Reed Tyler’s home, to steal the second most valuable set of balls he owns. Neither of them expect their striking attraction or battle of wills to lead them to a homerun.
Jaycee has more than herself to worry about. When Reed discovers she has a younger brother and sister, he’s quickly caught up in their world of need and heartbreak.
Baseball season begins and the separation puts Reed and Jaycee’s game on hold. With bases loaded and hearts on the line, will Reed convince Jaycee that she needs him to win or will Jaycee strike out and walk off the field forever?
This New Adult book is intended for mature audiences.
Nineteen-year-old Jaycee Shumway breaks into professional baseball player, Reed Tyler’s home, to steal the second most valuable set of balls he owns. Neither of them expect their striking attraction or battle of wills to lead them to a homerun.
Jaycee has more than herself to worry about. When Reed discovers she has a younger brother and sister, he’s quickly caught up in their world of need and heartbreak.
Baseball season begins and the separation puts Reed and Jaycee’s game on hold. With bases loaded and hearts on the line, will Reed convince Jaycee that she needs him to win or will Jaycee strike out and walk off the field forever?
This New Adult book is intended for mature audiences.
Author Bio:
Holly
S. Roberts is the bestselling author of fourteen novels, and writes under three
pen names. A romantic at heart, she fell in love at the age of twelve with a
boy she saw across junior high school campus. Four years later, he took notice
and she never let go.Her career in law enforcement gives her a reason to want
romance, happy endings, and anything that takes her away from real life when
she reads and writes. She can shoot a mean game of pool, toss back a straight
shot of tequila, and recite the Gettysburg Address.Holly lives high in the
mountains in the southwest United States with her husband, Rottweiler and
Chihuahua.
]Social Media Links:
Website:
http://clubeldiablo.blogspot.com
Excerpt (2 to pick from):
Excerpt 1:
I turned
and faced him. “Look Reed, I’m not going to be your girlfriend. I don’t need
rides home or your jackets.” I was such a liar. I didn’t ever want to give up
the jacket enveloping me in warmth and his scent. I wanted to roll in his smell
coating my body with Reed Tyler.
“I’d like
you to work for me.”
Well that
made me laugh. “Doing what, your laundry, cleaning?”
“Don’t you
think it’s a better gig than Tasty Burger?”
I’d said
my last words as a joke but god, he was serious. “I am not going to be your
maid. The idea is ridiculous.”
“Just hear
me out.”
“No.” Why
did he always bring my pride to the forefront?
“I have an
apartment over the garage. It has two bedrooms. Jon could sleep inside the main
house and you and Bitsy could have separate rooms.”
Now I
understood and pride was the last thing I felt. A slow angry buzz built in my
brain.
It made
perfect sense, baseball player, too much money, an easy lay whenever he had the
need. “You want a live in whore?”
His voice
exploded in the car, “You drive me crazy. No, I don’t want a live in whore.” He
took a deep breath and spoke one decimal softer, “Spring training starts in two
weeks. I’ll be in Florida. I have a cleaning service that comes in once a week
but there’s always something neglected when I’m gone. I need someone to oversee
things, let the pest control guy in, make sure the yard is tended by the yard
crew. It’s honest work. Your sister and brother need this. You can’t do it all
and I have the means to help you. Christ, I would just give you the money but I
don’t see you taking it. Instead you risk your life robbing me and you risk
your brother and sister’s lives too.”
His words
only fueled my anger. “You know nothing about me or my sister and brother. You
live in your mansion and think you have the right to butt into my business.
Tell me this… did you plan on keeping your hands off me? Are you providing my
own room so you can sneak in at night and get a little extra for your money? Is
that part of your overall scheme?” Reed Tyler was a creep the same as all the
men my mother brought home and that included the three that fathered me and Jon
and Bitsy. I threw open the car door and slammed it closed behind me. I ignored
the screeching tires and fought back tears. Squaring my shoulders, pushing the
internal pain aside, I knocked on the trailer door. The soft crying coming from
inside registered at the same time Jon opened the door.
“What’s
wrong?” I looked past Jon to Bitsy.
“It’s…
it’s… Don Gato.” Tears covered her scrunched up face.
My heart
broke. She held the mangy old cat in her arms.
“Oh honey,
he was very old. It was his time.”
“He’ssss
not dead, he’s sick and he won’t walk.”
Now my
heart broke even further. Jon closed the door behind me and I walked over to
look at Don Gato. He was lifeless but I could see the slight rise and fall of
his chest. I didn’t even have money to end his suffering. Life crashed in but I
had to control myself. I angrily wiped the tears from my face.
“You need
to go to sleep Bitsy. You can’t stay up holding him all night. It won’t make a
difference.” And I knew it wouldn’t. It didn’t matter how long I’d held my
mother’s hand, she died anyway. She’d left me alone to care for my sister and
brother. People died. Cats died and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about
it.
An hour
later, I lay down with Bitsy one arm under her pillow and my other hand across
her body resting on Don Gato. His small chest continued to rise and fall. I
needed him to die by morning. Bitsy didn’t need to go through this any longer.
I cried quietly so Jon couldn’t hear. I’d seen Jon’s eyes. He knew the same
thing I did.
It sucked
to be poor.
Excerpt 2:
The car quickly
heated up and one of his hands wrapped into my hair. He took control of the
next kiss. He tasted every part of my mouth and I think I understood exactly
what fucking him could be like.
He let me
come up for air and I opened my heavy eyelids. “I don’t want you to hurt me
Reed and I’ll hate you if you hurt my brother and sister.”
“I won’t
give you a reason to hate me.”
I still
didn’t get what he wanted from me and the decision was overwhelming. Should I
take a chance or not?
“Say yes.”
He kissed my throat running his tongue across my skin taking little nibbling
bites that drove me wild. He didn’t play fair.
“Yes,” I
whispered and he rewarded me with his mouth again.
I rubbed
against him, need building between my thighs so powerful that my clothes hurt
my skin. My wet panties burned against my clit. His knee rose up between my
legs causing more friction as I rocked against it.
“Let go
Jaycee.”
Oh god he
knew.
“Let go.”
He whispered.
I did. My
toes curled and my legs shook. My pussy quivered against him wanting more but
taking what he gave. My head went back as he lowered his knee and jerked the
center of me closer to the center of him. I cried out, the sound amplified in
his car. But before my orgasm was over, embarrassment crashed in. I tried
pulling away but he wouldn’t let me.
“That was
beautiful baby.”
I buried
my head in his shoulder. “I can’t believe I did that.”
“I want
you doing it again and again.”
“I’ve seen
the size of you, it’ll kill me.”
I felt his
chest shaking with laughter. “It won’t kill you baby.”
I moved my
hand over the long hard ridge beneath his jeans. His indrawn breath made me
smile, my embarrassment forgotten. I arched my body away so I could feel his
entire length.
He
breathed into my ear his voice rough. “It’s a little messier for me to do what
you just did and I need to make it home.”
I pressed
down a little harder. “What will you do when you get home?”
“Take a
long shower.”
“A cold
one?” I’d always heard that worked for men.
“No baby,
it’ll be hot, with my hand where yours is.”
Oh god, he
just talked about masturbating and I was so out of my league. He took both my
hands threading his fingers through mine and tipping me back.
“I want
you moving in this weekend.”
I’d
said yes when he had me at a disadvantage. Reed Tyler didn’t play fair.
Buy Now: Play (The Completion Series)
Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/ne5hshc
Barnes
& Noble: http://tinyurl.com/kmee49h
Kobo:
http://tinyurl.com/m33ypdh
<a
href="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Strike-Cover.jpg"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6557" alt="Strike
Cover" src="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Strike-Cover.jpg"
width="333" height="500" /></a>
<a
href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19398787-strike"
target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full
wp-image-3407" alt="add-to-goodreads-button31"
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width="216" height="100" />
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="font-size: large; color: #000000;">Strike is the second
book in the Completion Series. There is no connection to Play (book I) except
the sports theme. Strike is a standalone HEA novel.</span></p>
<span style="font-size: large; color:
#000000;"> Nineteen-year-old Jaycee Shumway breaks into professional
baseball player, Reed Tyler’s home, to steal the second most valuable set of
balls he owns. Neither of them expect their striking attraction or battle of
wills to lead them to a homerun.</span>
<span style="font-size: large; color:
#000000;"> Jaycee has more than herself to worry about. When Reed
discovers she has a younger brother and sister, he’s quickly caught up in their
world of need and heartbreak.</span>
<span style="font-size: large; color:
#000000;"> Baseball season begins and the separation puts Reed and
Jaycee’s game on hold. With bases loaded and hearts on the line, will Reed
convince Jaycee that she needs him to win or will Jaycee strike out and walk
off the field forever?</span>
<strong><span style="font-size: large; color:
#000000;"> This New Adult book is intended for mature
audiences.</span></strong>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a
href="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Excerpt.png"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6258" alt="Excerpt"
src="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Excerpt.png"
width="216" height="100" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">I turned and faced him.
“Look Reed, I’m not going to be your girlfriend. I don’t need rides home or
your jackets.” I was such a liar. I didn’t ever want to give up the jacket
enveloping me in warmth and his scent. I wanted to roll in his smell coating my
body with Reed Tyler.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“I’d like you to work
for me.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">Well that made me laugh.
“Doing what, your laundry, cleaning?”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“Don’t you think it’s a
better gig than Tasty Burger?”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">I’d said my last words
as a joke but god, he was serious. “I am not going to be your maid. The idea is
ridiculous.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“Just hear me
out.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“No.” Why did he always
bring my pride to the forefront?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“I have an apartment
over the garage. It has two bedrooms. Jon could sleep inside the main house and
you and Bitsy could have separate rooms.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">Now I understood and
pride was the last thing I felt. A slow angry buzz built in my
brain.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">It made perfect sense,
baseball player, too much money, an easy lay whenever he had the need. “You
want a live in whore?”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">His voice exploded in
the car, “You drive me crazy. No, I don’t want a live in whore.” He took a deep
breath and spoke one decimal softer, “Spring training starts in two weeks. I’ll
be in Florida. I have a cleaning service that comes in once a week but there’s
always something neglected when I’m gone. I need someone to oversee things, let
the pest control guy in, make sure the yard is tended by the yard crew. It’s
honest work. Your sister and brother need this. You can’t do it all and I have
the means to help you. Christ, I would just give you the money but I don’t see
you taking it. Instead you risk your life robbing me and you risk your brother
and sister’s lives too.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">His words only fueled my
anger. “You know nothing about me or my sister and brother. You live in your
mansion and think you have the right to butt into my business. Tell me this…
did you plan on keeping your hands off me? Are you providing my own room so you
can sneak in at night and get a little extra for your money? Is that part of
your overall scheme?” Reed Tyler was a creep the same as all the men my mother
brought home and that included the three that fathered me and Jon and Bitsy. I
threw open the car door and slammed it closed behind me. I ignored the
screeching tires and fought back tears. Squaring my shoulders, pushing the
internal pain aside, I knocked on the trailer door. The soft crying coming from
inside registered at the same time Jon opened the door.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“What’s wrong?” I looked
past Jon to Bitsy.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“It’s… it’s… Don Gato.”
Tears covered her scrunched up face.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">My heart broke. She held
the mangy old cat in her arms.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“Oh honey, he was very
old. It was his time.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“He’ssss not dead, he’s
sick and he won’t walk.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">Now my heart broke even
further. Jon closed the door behind me and I walked over to look at Don Gato.
He was lifeless but I could see the slight rise and fall of his chest. I didn’t
even have money to end his suffering. Life crashed in but I had to control
myself. I angrily wiped the tears from my face.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">“You need to go to sleep
Bitsy. You can’t stay up holding him all night. It won’t make a difference.”
And I knew it wouldn’t. It didn’t matter how long I’d held my mother’s hand,
she died anyway. She’d left me alone to care for my sister and brother. People
died. Cats died and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about
it.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">An hour later, I lay
down with Bitsy one arm under her pillow and my other hand across her body
resting on Don Gato. His small chest continued to rise and fall. I needed him
to die by morning. Bitsy didn’t need to go through this any longer. I cried
quietly so Jon couldn’t hear. I’d seen Jon’s eyes. He knew the same thing I
did.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;">It sucked to be
poor.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a
href="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/MeetTheAuthor.png"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6256"
alt="MeetTheAuthor" src="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/MeetTheAuthor.png"
width="216" height="100" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a
href="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Holly-Roberts-Small-pic.jpg"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3696" alt="Holly Roberts
Small pic"
src="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Holly-Roberts-Small-pic.jpg"
width="200" height="300" /></a><strong><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/completionseries"
target="_blank">FACEBOOK</a> / <a
href="http://www.hollysroberts.wordpress.com/"
target="_blank">BLOG</a> / <a
href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6522660.Holly_S_Roberts"
target="_blank">GOODREADS</a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="color: #000000; font-size: large;"><em>Holly S.
Roberts is the bestselling author of fourteen novels, and writes under three
pen names. A romantic at heart, she fell in love at the age of twelve with a
boy she saw across junior high school campus. Four years later, he took notice
and she never let go.Her career in law enforcement gives her a reason to want
romance, happy endings, and anything that takes her away from real life when
she reads and writes. She can shoot a mean game of pool, toss back a straight
shot of tequila, and recite the Gettysburg Address.Holly lives high in the
mountains in the southwest United States with her husband, Rottweiler and
Chihuahua.</em></span><i></i></p>
<a
href="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Buy-Now.png"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6262" alt="Buy Now"
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width="216" height="100" /></a>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="font-size: x-large; color: #000000;">Play (The Completion
Series)</span></p>
<a
href="http://swoonworthybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Play-900.jpg"><img
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900"
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width="200" height="300" /></a>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span
style="font-size: large;"><strong><a
href="http://tinyurl.com/ne5hshc"
target="_blank">Amazon</a> / <a
href="http://tinyurl.com/kmee49h" target="_blank">Barnes
& Noble</a> / <a
href="http://tinyurl.com/m33ypdh"
target="_blank">Kobo</a></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a
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