FALL GUY Release Day Madness!

I've been locked away in a cave, writing, rewriting, editing, thinking...and I have a date and a sneak peek and need a long nap! A nice long one.

The official Fall Guy release date is September 20! That's only about 2 weeks away, so I'm getting excited for you all to see Evan and Winch's story!

In honor of the 2 week countdown, here's a little teaser that I hope you'll all enjoy. And now, how 'bout that nap!

I put on a clean pair to mollify her, give her and Granddaddy a kiss, and fly to my car, ready for the day, eager as a kid ignoring the burn of the hot sand to get to the beach.

Eager for a day of muscle-tiring, bone-deep ache-inducing labor in some old dump.

With Winch.

Brenna texts me.

Brenna: Ready for your date with criminally hot McHottie?!?! Get it. It's a pun! Get it?

Me: You're such a dork. And don't be a halfwit. I told you about the guy at the park.

Brenna: I can smell a lie, miss! Are you rushing to see him NOW? Sweaty palms? Butterflies in your stomach?

Me: Can't text. About to drive.

Brenna: LOL!! I KNEW IT!!

I pull in at the dilapidated building that is looking much less dilapidated with every hour of work we chisel into it and feel puffy-chested with pride. I'd accomplished things before; written papers, completed projects, aced exams. But I'd never worked with my hands, turning something ugly into something gorgeous using my own sweat and talent. Well, using a ton of criminals' sweat and my very limited-but-slowly-increasing talent.

When I walk in, the officer in charge, Officer Rannick, points me in the direction of one of the offices we'd painted last week. "They refinished the floors and the precinct had some file cabinets sent over. Unfortunately, they tipped some of the drawers out. They're letter labeled. You just need to fish though the files and put the correct ones in, back in order."

"Okay." So today will be an easy day compared to the grueling grind of last week. I go through the door and my eyes nearly evacuate their sockets. "Oh shi...z," I amend as Officer Rannick frowns.

"Go ahead. You can handle it." She opens the door wider, and I stumble into a roaring, heaping, sliding typhoon of papers that goes up to my knees and has absolutely no rhyme or reason that I can decipher. My eyes race a circuit around the cluttered, paper-filled room, and I feel like I've been buried in sand up to my neck, weighed down by the millions of individual grains.

But, if I'm going to be balls-to-the-wall honest with myself, this never-ending deluge of papers spiraling in every direction isn't what makes my heart drop.

Winchester isn't here.

I edge a pile of papers aside with my toe and consider that he might just be late. I put my back to a huge filing cabinet and push off with my feet to move it and rationalize that maybe last week was just a fluke. There is no reason to expect we'd be assigned together every single time. The cabinet slides against the wall and gives me a tiny square of space to work in, and I pick up a few manila folders and put them back down, shuffle some papers into a heap, and stare at the never-ending, impossibly overwhelming whirlpool threatening to suck me down. I put my hand to my mouth, praying I won't turn sissy, cry my eyes out, and make all my lovingly applied eye makeup roll down my face.

A light knock at the window glass makes me jump and skid on the files and folders, and I can't help the upswing in my heart when I see his face, all soft blue eyes and wry smile. I throw up the sash and say, "Hey, slacker. You having a picnic out there?"

If you love cyber parties and book talk and random ramblings from me and Facebook...click here to attend the Fall Guy Release Party! The downside is that we can't have snacks or dancing. Well, we can. But in our own homes. Which is nice, since you won't have to worry about double-dipping or some lunatic doing the sprinkler and konking you in the head. But the upside is that you can go in your pajamas with unwashed hair (NOT that that's my plan...but, you know, sometimes writers get busy and lose their minds in a social sense!) and still mingle! So come as you are...and celebrate!! WHEE!!!