Love, Diamonds, and Spades (21 page)
“I’m holding you to that,” she said quietly, before hurrying over to her computer without waiting for a reply. She told herself it was because her eighth, ninth, and tenth alarms of the morning were buzzing away, telling her she needed to get logged in soon.
Not because she could
feel
his focus on her, though his eyes were now closed.
* * *
Bonus Deleted Scene “Lia”
© 2014 Violet Duke
Still curious about Lia?
Here’s a bonus deleted scene from
Love, Tussles, and Takedowns
The Chocolate and Beer Throwdown had been the biggest thing to hit Cactus Creek. Well…except for that time his friend Lia had taken out an up and coming MMA fighter who’d started a big drunken brawl here about two years ago.
The kick-ass little martial arts beauty had just been doing her job, of course.
As the on-call bouncer for Ocotillos, everyone in town knew not to mess with her. She didn’t just look a lot like that actress from
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, she fought just like her. Better, even. But dumbasses from out of town always underestimated her.
Hence the news explosion that occurred after she laid out the fighter who’d been almost twice her size.
Of course, the fact that she was a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than the man wasn’t the part that had the media in a frenzy (though quite a few newscasters were delighted to chuckle over the story the next day), nor was the rag magazine commotion over her wicked fighting skills and how she’d knocked the prize fighter out in about fifteen seconds. Nope. The reason why media folks came swarming into town for weeks afterward was because the fighter practically started
stalking
Lia afterward.
He began showing up everywhere she went, making these extravagant gestures to profess his undying love for her…until finally, her three brothers had to go have a little ‘talk’ with the guy.
To say Lia’s brothers were overprotective of her was an understatement, although, given all the tragedies the little spitfire had overcome in her life, it was hard not to be.
…Which is exactly why Rylan and Dani had rushed over to check on Lia that same day—only to discover her locked in her apartment, curled up in a tight ball on her bed.
Laughing so hard she could barely breathe, let alone talk.
To this day, neither Lia nor her brothers would tell anyone what the fighter had done to deserve such a tear-worthy laugh fest on her part.
Last they heard, he had won a belt or two and gone on to do well for himself.
Not that Lia could ever watch any MMA match with him in it without bursting out in laughter to know for certain.
And as for the fighter, the man never stepped foot in Cactus Creek again, but he did get a dessert at the town’s old fashioned ice cream shop named after him—or at least inspired by him.
Rumor has it that when the shop owner had at first contemplated a banana split instead of a sundae, Lia and her brothers had started cracking up so hard, the shop owner was worried they’d need to be sedated. When they finally calmed down, they’d landed on the ‘
Crazy Extravagant Gesture Sundae
’ instead—an insane dessert consisting of almost every ice cream topping possible—which became an instant town hit.
Only in Cactus Creek.
The CACTUS CREEK Series
Love, Chocolate, and Beer
(Luke & Dani)
Love, Diamonds, and Spades
(Rylan & Quinn)
Love, Tussles, and Takedowns
(Hudson & Lia)
Love, Exes, and Ohs
(Isaac & Xoey)
Love, Sidelines, and Endzones (Grady & Sienna)
Love, Stilettos, and Cufflinks (Noah & Katelyn)
Love, Meddling, and Mistletoe (Co-Author Project)
* * *
= = The Spencer Brothers are coming Summer 2015 = =
The UNFINISHED LOVE Series
(Cactus Creek Reunions)
Book 1 & 2: Caine & Addison
Book 3 & 4: Gabe & Hannah
Book 5 & 6: Max & Kennedy
Book 7 & 8: Drew & Skylar ^
^ Yes, that’s Skylar from the CAN’T RESIST series, all grown up!
* * *
= = Coming in 2016 from Penguin Random House = =
The FOURTH DOWN Series
(
Cactus Creek Nights)
Book 1: (Jackson's story) Title TBA
Book 2: (Bennett's story) Title TBA
Book 3: (Donovan's story) Title TBA
A
BOUT
THE
A
UTHOR
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Violet Duke is a former professor of English Education who is ecstatic to now be on the other side of the page writing wickedly fun contemporary romance novels. When she’s not writing or feeding her book-a-day reading addiction, Violet enjoys tackling reno projects with her power tools, trying pretty much anything without reading the directions first, and cooking ‘special edition’ dishes that laugh in the face of recipes. She lives in Hawai‘i with her two cute kids and similarly adorable husband.
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