Just Like That

It's release day (well, tomorrow) for the print version of Just Like That! This is Book 2 in the Bradford series, Sam's book, and it might be my personal favorite! :) I know, authors say their books are like their kids and they can't pick a favorite. But honestly, I have some good reasons for this one being my fave.


1. Sam. I don't know why but Sam was an easy hero to write. He just behaved the whole time- well, at least when he *didn't* I was okay with it! ;)
2. No cover drama. I love this cover. This was the first cover I saw for it and it was perfect!
3. No edit drama. I have so few edits in this book that it's my favorite if for no other reason!
4. The guys. We got to see more of the friendship between the guys--Mac, Kevin and Dooley-- and they were a ton of fun to write.
5. Danika. She's the kind of girl I would totally be friends with and the kind of girl I'd secretly want to be. She can take care of herself for sure, and she calls Sam on his B.S.-- of which, he has plenty.

So, I do really love this book and am thrilled to have it out in print now too!

Even though my author copies got send to Australia accidentally (I couldn't make this stuff up), I'm still going to give a copy away today! (I'll send it out as soon as I get it :))

Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win! I'll draw a winner on Friday!

And here's an excerpt from Just Like That. One of my favorite scenes with Sam and his buddies:

“Do you mind not ogling my…”

Everyone grew silent and four pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

Damn.

His what? That’s what they were all wondering. Including Sam.

What was Danika to him? What did he want her to be? It should have been an easy answer. She was a one-night stand waiting to happen.

“Ride home,” he said, staying with a more immediate answer and stubbornly ignoring that there might be another answer anyway.

But the four people in the room with him knew him. Well. He got three snorts of laughter and one expression that said That’s the best you can do?

“You know what?” Mac slapped him on the shoulder. “As soon as she’s more than your ride home I’ll stop ogling her.”

“She’s definitely ogle-worthy,” Dooley agreed. “And as long as you’re just friends you don’t get to put up anti-ogle rules.”

“Anti-ogle rules?” Sam said.

Dooley shrugged. “Not my best effort, but descriptive.”

Sam looked at three of the best friends he had in the world. Then he sighed. He wasn’t in the habit of warning other guys off women. He generally felt that if he and another guy—even a friend—were interested in the same woman he would let her decide. If she chose him, great. If not, no hard feelings.

Until now. This was Danika.

“Listen, if there are going to be any rules about Danika, I get to make them. And you are all going to abide by them.” Sam pointed to each of his friends, one at a time.

Dooley looked at Mac who looked at Kevin who looked at Dooley.

Mac spoke first. “You know us, Sam. We’re not exactly rule followers.”

He should have expected something like that. He pointed to Kevin. “He is. The Bible is full of rules. Especially the one about coveting your neighbor’s things, right Kev?”

Kevin shrugged. “She isn’t your wife and she isn’t your donkey so that one doesn’t apply here.”

He couldn’t believe this. He turned to Dooley. “Rule number one, no talking about her when I’m not around.”

“I thought rule number one was no ogling.”

“Fine.” Sam gritted his teeth. “No ogling. Then no talking about her.”

“What if we say nice things?” Dooley asked.

“No.” Sam glared at the guy who had once pretended to be his probation officer to get him out of
a bad blind date. “Rule number three, no watching her leave a room.”

“Isn’t that kind of like ogling?” Mac asked, smirking.

Sam turned his scowl on the guy who had once driven with him sixteen hours straight so he could enter a poker tournament. “Next, no thinking about her after she is out of sight.”

“How will we know she’s out of sight if we can’t watch her leave?”

Sam gave up. These guys were great friends who knew him well. Which meant that this entire conversation was a huge waste of time. He grabbed Danika’s wrist and started for the door. “Time to go.”

“Careful. What about her knee?” Kevin called.

Danika started limping on cue as the kitchen door swung open.

“You don’t have to…” Sam turned and caught the smug, knowing grins on the faces of his three buddies. At least he could try to keep the number of people thinking he was a lovesick idiot to three. He turned and caught Danika under the knees to carry her into the main room.

“Is she all right?” Sara asked, clearly concerned at seeing Danika seemingly unable to walk on her own.

“I’m fine,” Danika assured her.

It occurred to Sam that these were the first words Danika had said in several minutes. Of course, with Kevin, Dooley and Mac it was hard to get a word in edgewise, but she hadn’t protested or contributed to the conversation in the kitchen.

“But he’s carrying you,” Sara pointed out.

“Oh, he’s—”

“You need to get the kids home,” Sam said, bypassing the entire topic of Danika’s knee.

Sara’s attention was effectively diverted as Mac, Kevin and Dooley surrounded her and hustled her away to divide the kids up between the various adult drivers who would be taking them home.

Whatever else he had to say about those guys, they really did have his back when he needed it.

He carried Danika all the way to the front lobby. They were out of sight of the party as soon as they stepped through the double doors leading into the hallway, but he didn’t put her down until they were completely alone by the front door.

He let her feet swing down to the floor, but before he let her go he kissed her, deep and soft.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for at least an hour now,” he said when he finally lifted his head.

“But you’ve been resisting because your friends will tease you?”

“Nah, if I was worried about them teasing me, I wouldn’t have brought you tonight in the first place. With them if it isn’t that it will be something else.”

She smiled. “They love you.”

“Yeah.” He knew they did. But being loved by those guys was a pain in the ass sometimes.


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