LB Book Blog

“Do friends give each other hugs? The friends I have do. Sometimes.” “There is no way I’m hugging you.” I roll my eyes. “A truce hug then? Come on.” He lets go of the door handle and faces me fully, stretching his arms out in invitation. “I’ll leave you alone after this, okay? I promise.” I’m not sure if he’s the type who keeps his promises. I’m guessing no. This could be the last time I hug him. This entire encounter has been weird. Confusing. We’re a mess. We would never work, and us going ’round and ’round in circles tonight just proves that. So what’s the harm in getting one last hug from Ash? It’s just a hug. A brief moment of bodily contact and then I’ll send him away. He won’t bug me again. He’ll get over his so-called feelings for me. He’ll give his heart to someone else or even better, he’ll discover he actually has one, and he’ll forget all about me. He’ll give it to someone else, and he’ll finally leave me alone forever. Why does that thought make me feel so empty inside? Deciding it’s do or die time, I walk right into his hug, my arms sliding around his waist, my head resting on his chest. I can feel the steady thump-thump of his heartbeat and I close my eyes when his arms come around me. Slowly. Enfolding me into his body so that we’re snug tight. He holds me with a desperation, almost as if he’s afraid to let me go, and when I lift my head, tilting it back so I can stare into his eyes, I find he’s already watching me. “Friends don’t make each other feel like this,” he says, his voice a gravelly whisper. The hairs on the back of my neck rise. “Feel like what?” “Like you could be my everything.” My shoulders sag. “Ash—” “Stop talking.” He presses two fingers to my lips, silencing me. When he’s seemingly assured I won’t speak, he lightens the pressure, gently caressing my lips. Back and forth. Making me tingle. Making me want him to do more than touch my mouth. I want him to kiss me. “You have the sexiest lips,” he murmurs, and the blush returns, setting my face on fire. No one has referred to me as sexy before. “What we’re doing is fucking crazy. You know this right, Callahan?” I ignore his question. “How could I be your everything when you told me you don’t know how to feel?” “The only time I seem to feel is when...” He presses his fingers into the corner of my mouth, so gentle, I could almost think he never actually touched me. “I’m with you.”

I was born to play and bred to win.

My priorities were instilled in me early on—family and football. Those ideals led me to TGU and a coach whose ironclad principles mirrored my own.

With one last college season to play, my goal was singular—get drafted. By realizing my NFL dream, I could save my family, our ranch, and the only home I’d ever known.

Two birds, one ball.

Playing hard was my only option, but there’s always a wild card.

For all of my planning and hard work, I never anticipated falling for the coach's daughter. Harper was a fair catch, but who knew loving her could be the one play to throw my career before it started or that the weight of our secret would change the game.

*The Guy in the Middle is a stand alone novel in the Underdog Series. This is Lance's story.

EXCERPT:
Harper

“I’ve missed you, you know? More than you can imagine.”

“Can’t imagine it at all,” he says, picking through a book he’s not reading.

“Can I help you two?” One of the store sales associates asks, and I shake my head and smile. When she takes her leave, I look over to Lance who stands fuming on the other side of a table filled with loose items. We’re in a mismatch shop full of mostly cheap junk, and I can’t imagine him finding anything for his mother here.

“Lance, I have missed you. Horribly.”

“Could have fooled me.”

I can only take so much. Irritated, I lift a designer coffee mug from the table.

“You like this for your mom?”

“No.”

“How about this?”

“Nope.” He’s not even looking at what’s in my hands.

“You sure? It’s a hide purse. Cute for a rancher’s wife, don’t you think?” This gets his attention, and stormy eyes lift to mine.

“Would you buy that for you?”

I look it over and shake my head. “Not really my style.”

“Bet it’s not.”

I can feel my ears reddening. Fuming, I eye a box on the shelf, snatch it and shove it into his chest. “How about this giant fucking purple dildo and matching anal plug!? Think mom will like that?”

He looks up completely unaffected, “Nope.”

“I don’t think we’re in the right place,” Tossing the box down, I stalk out of the cluttered shop and into the department store next to it. He’s hot on my heels.

“Got that fucking right.”

I turn back to see he’s spoiling for a fight and release a stressed breath. Fighting with him is the last thing I want to do. “Look, lets, just...” I search around and pull a sweater from the closest rack. “How about this? Simple, elegant.”

“You think Mom’s simple, huh? I’ll give her your regards.”

“That’s it.” I hook the sweater back on to the rack and close the space between us, forcing his eyes to mine. “God, you’re still a brute, aren’t you? You haven’t changed a bit. Still pig-headed as hell.”

“Pig-headed?” He opens his mouth in mock shock and covers his chest with his hand. “How dare you.”

I’m in between fight or flight, but I’ve been dodging this long enough. My heart can’t take more confrontation. I missed him too much. His eyes flare with satisfaction at my irritation. “Misery loves company, right, Lance?”

“Never said I was miserable.”

“You don’t have to. Did you come to New York just to torture me?”

“Maybe.”

“Rub it in on what I’m missing out on?”

A voice sounds from next to us. “Is there something I can help you find today?”

We both turn to the woman with lasers in our eyes, and she swallows. I clear my throat. “We’re fine. Thank you.”

Lance winks at the woman, his eyes scanning her form. “Maybe you can help me?”

“You son of a bitch,” I hiss, before walking away from the table. His voice rings out next to me as I rip through a rack of scarves.

“Good to know you care, Priss, gotta admit, it’s surprising.”

I reel on him. “Don’t you dare! Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had to make a clean break. I had just lost everyone that mattered to me. I was losing my mind.”

“I got pissed for one day, and you went off the grid.”

“And you let me go because you knew no matter how much we wanted it to work, it couldn’t. You have no idea what I went through!”

“What you went through? Do you know I spent six months ranting to an Uber driver named Dave because everyone on my team hated me when the truth came out?” He stomps after me as I pull sweater after sweater off the rack. “Troy jumped ship after he got drafted. I had no one but Tony and those fights.”

I turn to him with twenty sweaters in my arms. “Jenner? When did y’all get so tight?”

“When shit got tough, and my fucking girlfriend bailed!” He glares down at me, his breaths coming out fast.

“Guys, we’re going to need you to take this outside.” A woman whom I assume is the store manager approaches us cautiously.

I look around the store and see all eyes are on us, especially the women sizing him up. “He’s available ladies,” I snap, laying the sweaters on a nearby table, “I’m willing to bet he comes really cheap.” He’s on my heels as I push through the glass of the department store.

“Oh, was I supposed to wait for you? Must have missed that memo. That’s it, you must want a saint. That’s why you didn’t stay.”

“I was twenty years old and alienated from a place I didn’t want to be anyway.”

“Good to know.”

“That’s not the way I meant it. And you know damn well until you, I was only there to appease my Dad, who I barely speak to now.”

“I’m sorry about that, I am, but that’s on him. And what in the hell are you talking about ‘alienated’?”

“Forget it.” I pull on my gloves as heavy snow starts to come down. “I think we’ve concluded our tour for today.”

He glances around the sidewalk. “Well, no need to show me more, I hate this fucking place!”

“And why is that? Not enough free-range chickens?!”

His eyes flare. “You digging on the ranch now, Priss? I saw a fucking rat the size of a cat on my run this morning!”

“Probably has better manners than you, shit head.”

“Pulling out the big guns now, huh? There’s that backbone. I was wondering where it went.”

“Go home, Lance, you hate it here. And you obviously hate me.”

“Just the opposite. It’s impossible, and believe me, I’m trying!”

“Well, I hope you succeed! Thanks for stopping by, Mary Poppins. Best Christmas ever! Make sure to bulldoze the nativity scene on your way out!”

“Fuck this.” He throws his hands up and eyes me warily before turning and walking away.

“Merry Christmas to you, too!”


About the Author:

"Unbreakable is everything you expect from a Melanie Harlow novel: emotional, sexy and a love that's worth risking it all for. I could not get enough of Henry and Sylvia's story!"

-- Corinne Michaels, New York Times bestselling author

Unbreakable, an all new “do not miss” sexy and emotional second chance romance from USA Today bestselling author Melanie Harlow, is available now!
“Want to unzip my dress?” “That would be a hell yes.” He took my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Turn around.” I turned, lifting my hair off my neck. Slowly, he pulled the zipper down my back, and the red dress fell to my feet. Stepping out of it, I suddenly felt self-conscious. I hadn’t been fully naked in front of a man without the cover of darkness in a long time. I hadn’t been fully naked in front of anyone but my ex since I was twenty—and I didn’t have that body anymore. I’d had two children. Even though I knew it was stupid, that nagging little prickle of insecurity still stung . . . I’d been left for a younger woman. He’d told her I didn’t excite him anymore. Was my body to blame? Before I could stop myself, I covered my chest with my arms, wrapping one fist inside the other and tucking them beneath my chin. “Hey.” Henry turned me by the shoulder so I was facing him again. “Don’t do that.” “What?” I had trouble looking him in the eye. He tipped my chin up. “Don’t hide yourself from me.” “I’m not hiding,” I said, but of course I was. Taking me by the wrists, he forced my arms down to my sides, and looked at me. I started to panic a little. I was totally bare before him—stretch marks, C-section scar, less-than-perky breasts and all. Unlike many of my friends, I’d never had surgery to restore my post-baby body to its former tight, bouncy, unmarked state. Now I was kind of wishing I had. I’d never felt so naked or vulnerable in my life. “Sylvia, I’m going to say this once,” Henry said seriously. “And then, since you’ve learned not to trust words entirely, I’m going to spend the rest of the night showing you that it’s true—I think you are the most exquisite woman on the face of the earth, in every way. There is no part of your body, no inch of your skin, that isn’t perfect, because it’s yours.” He took my head in his hands and kissed me, hard but sweet. “And all I want to do is make you mine, even if it’s just for tonight.” “Yes,” I whispered. I rose up on my toes, pressing my lips to his again while my hands went to work unbuttoning his shirt. “Make me yours tonight, Henry. That’s all I want to be.” About Melanie USA Today bestselling author, Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she's not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like VEEP, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, and Homeland. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak. Melanie is the author of the AFTER WE FALL series, the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, the FRENCHED series, and the sexy historical SPEAK EASY duet, set in the 1920s. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.

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"Melanie Harlow has done it again! I dare you not to fall in love with the dreamy and delicious Henry DeSantis. Unbreakable is the perfect second chance romance!"

-- Ilsa Madden-Mills, Wall Street Journal bestselling author

Unbreakable, an all new heart-warming and sexy second chance romance from USA Today bestselling author Melanie Harlow, is available now!

About Melanie USA Today bestselling author, Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she's not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like VEEP, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, and Homeland. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak. Melanie is the author of the AFTER WE FALL series, the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, the FRENCHED series, and the sexy historical SPEAK EASY duet, set in the 1920s. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.