Title: And I Love Her
Series: Bliss Cove #2
Author: Nina Lindsey
Genre: Spicy Sweet Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 30, 2019
Blurb
An expert
on the hot, wild tales of mythology, Callie Prescott leads a tidy life. And
that, thank you, is exactly how she wants it, despite her family’s pestering
that she’s a control freak who needs to have fun. Callie prefers order and
predictability. After her father’s death and her mother’s recent health scare,
who can blame her?
Jake Ryan fights bad guys, jumps out of airplanes, and escapes disasters…on film. But when a scandal engulfs his career, he takes cover in his hometown of Bliss Cove while he puts out the fire. No one knows his true identity until a chance encounter with Callie ignites powerful flashbacks of their high-school years together.
Despite the threat of exposure, Jake wants some close-up action with the brilliant, beautiful professor. Callie’s structured life has no room for a sexy, muscular hero…until Jake shows her how thrilling it is to have fun and lose control (a little).
Jake and Callie surrender to a hot affair and the possibility of love. But with dangerous secrets, a public scandal, and a mother’s scheming plots, can Jake ever win the starring role in his leading lady’s heart?
Jake Ryan fights bad guys, jumps out of airplanes, and escapes disasters…on film. But when a scandal engulfs his career, he takes cover in his hometown of Bliss Cove while he puts out the fire. No one knows his true identity until a chance encounter with Callie ignites powerful flashbacks of their high-school years together.
Despite the threat of exposure, Jake wants some close-up action with the brilliant, beautiful professor. Callie’s structured life has no room for a sexy, muscular hero…until Jake shows her how thrilling it is to have fun and lose control (a little).
Jake and Callie surrender to a hot affair and the possibility of love. But with dangerous secrets, a public scandal, and a mother’s scheming plots, can Jake ever win the starring role in his leading lady’s heart?
Purchase Links
Free in Kindle Unlimited
Excerpt
Chapter One
“I will not accept any late assignments.” Calista Prescott
snapped her laser pointer shut and swept her gaze over the lecture hall of a
hundred shuffling, slouching undergraduates. “If your paper is not either in my
hand, on my desk, or in my mailbox by five p.m. Friday afternoon…that’s the day
after tomorrow, to avoid any misunderstanding…then you will receive an
incomplete. And no, emailing me a copy does not count. Printed copies only. No
exceptions. Class dismissed.”
The air filled with chatter and sighs of relief. The
students stuffed notebooks into their backpacks and started checking their
phones. Her graduate teaching assistant, Jordan, approached from the projection
booth with a stack of slide carousels.
“If you ever want me to put your lectures and slides on a
twenty-first century computer, I would be delighted.” He set the carousels on
the table with a grimace, as if he were carrying forty-pound cement blocks.
“The slide projector suits me just fine, thank you,” Callie
replied crisply.
“You mean the ancient relic?”
“A perfect tool for teaching ancient history.”
With an unsubtle roll of his eyes, Jordan wound up the
electrical cord and placed the carousels and remote control into boxes. “I’ll
put this all in your office.”
As he and the rest of the class began heading toward the
doors, a barrage of anxious-looking students approached the podium like a
Spartan army on the march. Callie stiffened her spine.
“Professor Prescott, did you get my email about my grandma
in the hospital…?”
“I can’t get my printer to work, Dr. Prescott…”
“The book I need hasn’t come in at the library yet…”
Callie encompassed the group in a tight smile and hardened
her heart to their puppy-dog eyes and beseeching pleas. In her early days of
teaching, she’d learned her lesson about showing any weakness. These kids might
look all scruffy, ear-pod-wearing innocence, but they could smell blood.
“You’ve all known about this assignment since the first day
of class.” She closed her leather satchel and snapped the latch. “No
exceptions. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
The group sagged with dismay, and one girl—Laura—bit her
trembling lip.
Walk away, Dr.
Prescott.
Callie stepped back from the podium and slipped into the
cashmere cardigan she’d left on the back of a chair. She started toward the
door, her heels clicking purposefully. Behind her, the students radiated
nervous despair.
Keep walking. Keep
walk—
Was that a sniffle?
Her heart sank. Gripping her satchel strap tighter, she
swiveled and leveled the group with an icy glare.
“I will have extra office hours today, tomorrow, and Friday
afternoon until five. I will also plan to check my email more often than usual.
Should you encounter further obstacles in your research and writing, you may
either come to my office or email me. I will do my best to assist you. But
there will be no exceptions. I wish
your grandmother well, Mr. Hamilton.”
Without waiting to see if her remarks mollified them, she
strode from the lecture hall. Hopefully her hard-ass attitude would still
deflect any notion of weakness.
She glanced at her slim gold wristwatch. One hour until her
meeting with the senior professors in the Classics department, which gave her
just enough time to drive over to the Bliss Cove Library and pick up the books
she’d ordered through interlibrary loan.
She preferred using the local library since the college
library was always so slammed with requests from students and other professors.
Not to mention, the Bliss Cove librarian Beatrice was highly efficient, a
quality Callie both appreciated and often found lacking in other people.
Outside, the grassy expanse of the quad at Skyline College
teemed with students trudging to their next class, backpacks slung over their
shoulders as they balanced their cell phones with takeout coffee cups. The May
sun peeked through a fluffy layer of clouds, and a breeze strengthened the
scent of the Pacific ocean and the surrounding redwood forests.
Callie had always loved the picturesque beauty of the small
private college with its brick buildings and tree-lined flagstone pathways. If
it weren’t for her meeting, she’d have gotten herself a coffee and found a
quiet place to sit and enjoy the lovely day.
But…junior professors who were up for tenure and trying to
finish a book proposal on Greek mythology didn’t have time to enjoy the day. Or
to enjoy anything, really.
No comments:
Post a Comment