Excerpt!
“Blade Runner?” West asked.
Miles pointed at Hayden’s left leg. The prosthetic blade he wore when he ran was partially obscured by Xander’s beefy calf. “Even as a wounded warrior, he smokes the field.”
West’s face paled. “You lost your leg? In Afghanistan?”
Gavin McAlister wrapped an arm over Hayden’s shoulders. “He gave that leg to save two other soldiers. And don’t think we let this guy win this thing every year. He kicks our asses fair and square.”
The bullhorn squeaked when Bernice turned it on, causing the crowd to grimace. “Okay, we are almost ready to start,” she shouted into it. “Everyone be safe and have fun.”
West shot Hayden a pained look as the others jostled for position along the starting line. Hayden swore. He hated the pitying looks he got when people found out about his injury. And it especially stung coming from this man.
“Show me what you got,” Hayden challenged.
A slow grin formed on the reporter’s face. The horn went off, and the sea of bodies surged forward. West had the smooth stride of a man who ran for the joy of it. He easily kept pace with Hayden and Elle’s brothers.
The high school runners sprinted to the front. A rookie move. They’d tire out before the halfway point.
Livi wasn’t lying when she said she was in a running club. She kept an easy pace beside him without breaking a sweat. He glanced over his shoulder at Elle who was huffing and puffing several yards back. When their eyes met, she gave him a pathetic thumbs-up before waving her hand as if telling him to shoo.
At the halfway point, West had settled in with the high schoolers. The McAlister brothers peeled off Miles for a photo-op with his constituents, and Ryan and Gavin for an iced coffee Lois was handing out. Livi lengthened her stride.
“Come on, Hayden. You don’t want to let that old man beat you,” she said, gesturing to West.
No way was that old man beating Hayden. Neither was anyone else, for that matter. Time to make his move. He let Livi have the front for a few strides before taking one last look back at Elle.
Just in time to see her go down in a heap.
In the quaint coastal town of Chances Inlet, Christmas is a time for rekindling lost connections . . .
Elinor “Elle” McAlister is on the brink of a big-time promotion that will finally put her on equal footing with her overachieving siblings. The catch? She has to babysit a notoriously prickly war reporter who’s late delivering his memoir. As if that weren’t enough, her editor banishes them both to Elle’s hometown on the Carolina coast to get the job done. Spending the holidays in Chances Inlet might have been fine—if only she hadn’t wrecked the most important relationship in her life during her visit last Christmas.
Deputy Sheriff Hayden Lovell has known Elle was his person ever since she swiped his purple crayon back in kindergarten. Through every twist and setback, her steady friendship has been his anchor, especially after he returned from combat with wounds that run deep. But everything changed last New Year’s Eve when Elle surprised him with a kiss, stirring feelings he didn’t realize he had. Now that she’s back in town and keeping her distance, Hayden wonders if that moment meant as much to her as it did to him.
Chances Inlet has a knack for bringing people together. With Christmas around the corner, can Elle and Hayden rewrite their story before the holiday spirit fades? Join them in a heartwarming tale of love, friendship, and the magic of second chances in a town that knows how to celebrate Christmas like no other.
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USA Today bestselling author Tracy Solheim writes books with shirtless men on the cover. Some of them are actually best-sellers. The books, not the men. When she's not writing, she's practicing her curling. . . bottles of wine, that is. She's been known to cook dinner but no more than two nights in a row. Most days, she'd rather be reading, which to her is just necessary research. She lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with her husband and a neurotic Labrador retriever. Her two adult children visit but not often enough. (See the note above about cooking.) Check out her romantic suspense series featuring the Men of the Secret Service--shirtless, of course! See what she’s up to at www.tracysolheim.com
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