She’s running from the law, and the law wants her bad.
The opportunity was just too damn delicious for Ginger Peet to pass up. The purse full of money she finds—$50,000 to be exact—could give her and her teen sister the new start they need. So she grabs the cash, her gothy sibling, and their life-sized statue of Dolly Parton, and blows outta Nashville in a cloud of dust.Chicago, here we come…
Turns out, Chicago has some pretty hot cops. Hot, intense, naughty-lookin’ cops like Derek Tyler, who looks like he could eat a girl up and leave her begging for more. And more. Tempting as he is, getting involved with the sexy homicide lieutenant next door poses a teensy problem for a gal who’s on the lam. But one thing is certain—Derek’s onto her, and he wants more than just a taste.
And as far as he’s concerned, possession is nine-tenths of the law.
Tessa
Bailey
Author of PROTECTING WHAT’S HIS
From Brazen Books at Entangled Publishing
This or That
Erzabet’s Enchantments
Scheduled for 4/15/13
1. Romance or horror Romance.
Although a little bit of both can be fun.
2. Cheeseburgers or sushi? Depends on what you’re in the mood for. I don’t think you can beat a cheeseburger, though. Especially if it’s from a place like In N Out. God, now I’m hungry.
3. Vacation: beach or mountains Beach. No question. The mountains require a lot of work…you have to wear the right clothes, rough it a little. Whereas with the beach, the point is to make no effort.
4. Plotter or pantser I didn’t even know what this meant until recently when my editor told me I’m a pantser. I tend to let my characters change the course of the plot a little too often.
5. Beer or wine Wine. I drink too much wine. When you drink beer, you are basically dooming yourself to an evening of trips to the bathroom. Its hell on your bladder and any conversation you’re attempting to have.
2. Cheeseburgers or sushi? Depends on what you’re in the mood for. I don’t think you can beat a cheeseburger, though. Especially if it’s from a place like In N Out. God, now I’m hungry.
3. Vacation: beach or mountains Beach. No question. The mountains require a lot of work…you have to wear the right clothes, rough it a little. Whereas with the beach, the point is to make no effort.
4. Plotter or pantser I didn’t even know what this meant until recently when my editor told me I’m a pantser. I tend to let my characters change the course of the plot a little too often.
5. Beer or wine Wine. I drink too much wine. When you drink beer, you are basically dooming yourself to an evening of trips to the bathroom. Its hell on your bladder and any conversation you’re attempting to have.
Monday, March 11 - Up All Night Reviews
Tuesday, March 12 - Smut Book Club
Wednesday, March 13 - Romance Junkies
Thursday, March 14 - Manga Maniac Cafe
Monday, March 18 - Romancing Rakes For The Love of Romance
Tuesday, March 19 - Love To Read For Fun
Wednesday, March 20 My Reading Room
Thursday, March 21 - The Readdicts
Friday, March 22 - Words, Pages, and Books
Monday, March 25 - Manga Maniac Cafe
Tuesday, March 26 - Feeling Fictional
Wednesday, March 27 - Ramblings From This Chick
Thursday, March 28 - Readers Confession
Friday, March 29 - Enticed by Books
Monday, April 1 - Reading Between the Wines
Tuesday, April 2 - Ex Libris
Wednesday, April 3 - Cocktails and Books
Thursday, April 4 - Fictionators
Friday, April 5 - Confessions of a Vi3tBabe
Monday, April 8 – My Life With Books
Tuesday, April 9 - Shortie Says
Wednesday, April 10 - Full Moon Bites
Thursday, April 11 - Smexy Books
Friday, April 12 - Simply Ali
Monday, April 15 - Erzabet’s Enchantments
Tuesday, April 16 - A Book Lovers Review
Wednesday, April 17 - Deal Sharing Aunt
Thursday, April 18 - Harlequin Junkie
Friday, April 19 - Up All Night Reviews
Title: Protecting What’s His
Author: Tessa Bailey
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 273
Release Date: February 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62266-789-5
Imprint: Brazen
Author: Tessa Bailey
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 273
Release Date: February 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62266-789-5
Imprint: Brazen
“Scorching hot, and laugh out loud funny! You’ll want to read this book again and again.”
- New York Times Bestselling Author Katee Robert
★★★★ stars. “Derek is rugged, tough, and so very naughty. How he talks to Ginger is guaranteed to thrill and she gives as good as she gets. The sexy banter between the couple is hot enough to singe the pages, but the emotions remain genuine and real. Derek gives Ginger so much more than incredibly hot sex, which makes his possessiveness tolerable because it’s based on emotional need, not ownership. He also cares a great deal about her younger sister, Willa, something that means the world to Ginger.
- RT Magazine
© 2013 Tessa Bailey
Chapter One
To steal or not to steal, that was the question.
Ginger Peet contemplated the bottle blonde sprawled across the yellowing love seat before returning her attention to the gaping purse full of cash in the woman’s hands. Lips pinched, she waited for the proverbial angel/devil tag team to pop up on her shoulders to dole out conflicting advice.
Nothing happened. And didn’t that just figure?
Instead, her conscience wiggled out of her chest, moseyed across the room, and perched itself on the giant, unused stereo system circa 1992. It crossed its arms and shrugged as if to say, “Union break. You understand.”
Ginger cocked an eyebrow. It appeared her imagination was already overcompensating for the absence of her conscience.
She plopped down on the dingy carpet, pulled her knees up to her chest, and inhaled a shaky breath. Her night shift at Bobby’s Hideaway had been crazy as usual, what with the dueling bachelorette parties and frat guys from Vanderbilt screaming drink orders at her until 4:00 a.m. Typical night in downtown Nashville.
Most nights, she screamed right along with them. Playing the part. Laughing at jokes she couldn’t even hear above the honky-tonk music. Giving as good as she got. Was it pure coincidence that tonight, when she’d been unable to muster a single smile for her good ol’ boy regulars, she came home to find a pile of cash waiting for her?
Furthermore, their mother hadn’t darkened their door in months, but had picked tonight of all nights to stop by and catch a nap. The last time Ginger spoke—okay argued—with Valerie, she’d been stripping to make a living. If you called passing through life in a drug- and alcohol-induced hazeliving. At least she’d managed to pass out with dignity and not wake Ginger’s seventeen-year-old sister, Willa, in the process. Willa tried valiantly to hide her depression over their mother’s habitual absences, but Ginger knew it cut her deeply.
Ginger didn’t take kindly to anyone hurting her sister. Mother or not.
She narrowed her gaze once more at the cash-filled purse. No way had Valerie pulled in this much cash twirling around a pole. She sifted through the bulging rolls of hundred-dollar bills held together by rubber bands. What she wouldn’t give to have this much money. The pile of cash in front of her represented freedom. Change. A chance to pursue something other than pouring drinks to support herself and Willa.
Willa.
This could be Ginger’s one and only chance to get her sister away from this broken-down heap called a house. Away from the danger of the strange men her mother brought home when she actually came home. Away from the fate of ending up passed out on a thrift-store couch while your twenty-three-year-old daughter debated ripping you off.
And. Yet. Ginger knew with absolute certainty that if she took this money, just walked out the door with it, it would come back to take a chunk out of her ass. Moreover, it occurred to her that this one poor decision moved her one giant step closer to her biggest fear.
Becoming her mother.
Ginger had to believe the pile of skin and bones on the couch had once possessed dreams and ambitions of some sort. Then one misguided choice landed her in a G-string and pasties shaking it for some trucker named Dirk to a played-out eighties anthem.
If Ginger could just be a good enough person for long enough, she could flip the script for Willa, though. Willa, who’d skipped the sixth grade, swore like a sailor, and took photographs that could make Ginger cry, would have a chance at becoming something. Someone.
She glanced around at the peeling paint, stained carpet, and twice-pawned television set. Without the responsibility of playing parent to her sister, Ginger would have lit out a long time ago, leaving Nashville in her rearview mirror. The thought of falling asleep in her squeaky twin bed in the room she shared with Willa, only to wake up tomorrow and complete the same bleak routine—riding the bus into town to work a double shift, then still struggle to put dinner on the table and make rent, all the while looking out for her sister—made her feel nauseous.
I can’t see past tomorrow anymore and that ain’t good.
As her idol Dolly Parton once said, “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” Hell, she was going to need a fleet of cement mixers.
And for that, she’d need some cash.
Ginger fanned the money in front of her face, inhaling the musty scent. Surely the guilt would appear any moment and she would stuff the purse back into the crook of Valerie’s arm and pretend she’d never seen it in the first place. She could then fall asleep with a clear conscience and the false hope that her mother had turned over a new leaf and would use the money to feed Willa, move her sister into a nicer home.
Or she could seize the opportunity fate was dropping in her lap and get the heck out of Dodge…
As Ginger picked up the purse and slung it over her shoulder, she learned something very important about human nature. Oftentimes people make questionable decisions. And even though they already taste the fat regret sandwich headed their way, they do it with a smile.
She gave her trembling, wide-eyed conscience the finger and went to pack.
This book is steaming up my TBR pile and I can't wait to get started reading it! A review will be coming soon!
This book is steaming up my TBR pile and I can't wait to get started reading it! A review will be coming soon!
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