Thursday, 30 September 2010

Excerpt Day - Play Dirty © Lorie O'Clare



Haley shouldn’t be there. It was stupid thinking driving past the house where she and Greg raised their boys, and where he still lived with both of them, would help her clear her head. After the quick drive by, seeing a new looking black Avalanche in the driveway and the porch now closed in, appearing to have been converted into another room, Haley refused to let herself drive by the house again. She’d kept going, passing the grocery store where once she’d known everyone who worked there, the small strip mall where they used to take the boys for ice cream and to rent movies. For such a huge city, the neighborhood where they raised their boys hadn’t changed all that much in the years since she’d been gone.


“You’re torturing yourself,” she complained when she pulled into the small, secluded parking lot and parked her car in a stall facing the football field.


It seemed a thousand years ago. Haley could still see Greg running across that field, the crowd cheering when he made a touch down. He’d been her high school sweetheart, her husband and the father of her children.


“He’s still your husband.” She swallowed the lump in her throat wondering for the hundredth time why she hadn’t filed for divorce. Living her life in limbo wasn’t healthy. There were other men out there, men who weren’t obsessed with their job, who would trip over themselves to have someone like her.


She got out of her car, immediately feeling the heat from the sun make her shirt cling to her back as she locked her car door. The grove of trees still surrounded the end of the field and she headed that way, forcing herself to focus on recent current events and not a life that was long gone. At some point she would seek out her sons, explain why she did what she did, and pray they would accept her in their lives once again. But that couldn’t happen until she figured out what happened to her boss.


“Which is why you came here.” Haley picked up her pace, anxious to reach the shade and get out of the sun. At this rate, she would be a melted mess before she got to the end of the field. “I’m going to look like an idiot if I approach Greg about John with no facts and clues that are barely clues.”


She admitted being a chicken shit in seeking out Greg simply to say hi, it’s nice to see you again. It was easier thinking about talking to him about a case, one she would like assistance in solving instead of approaching him to discuss a relationship that was on the rocks years ago. But Pierre was dead, her reason for leaving no longer existing, and it was time to come home.


“My God, are you seriously thinking about asking him to work with you on this?” She wiped moisture from her forehead and walked into the shade.


It was only a few degrees cooler among the trees but she slowed her pace, staring at the apartments that didn’t used to be there. Once this secluded area was the ideal place for young lovers to come and escape the crowd, spend time making out and getting to know each other. There was still some seclusion and the narrow path made of packed dirt where the grass had been worn down by many people walking through the trees over the years was still there. Haley walked along the path, wiping sweat from her brow until she reached the large cement ditch that looked a lot smaller than it used to.


She sat at the edge of the cement, stretching her legs down the incline. Glancing both ways, she took in the length of the huge cement ditch that was actually a sewer run-off. Heat waved off the cement, and her vision blurred as she focused on the direction where she knew there was a place where people could walk into an underground sewage area. It had grossed her out as a teenager, although a lot of the kids would go there to get laid, or on dares. No one was around and she wondered if kids at the high school today still came here to hang out. More than likely not, with computers and cell phones having replaced the need to find secluded areas like this to have uninterrupted conversations.


“Haley.” The deep voice behind her interrupted the silence.


Haley jumped, lost her footing and started sliding down the steep cement incline. “Stop!” she yelled, slashing out with her arms when someone gripped her from behind, lifting her off the ground. “Let me go! No!”


“It’s me.” Those powerful hands turned her around.


Haley slapped her palms against Greg’s hard packed chest, staring into his piercing blue eyes that were as radiant and compelling as she remembered. Her breath caught in her throat and she swore her heart stopped beating. Greg pulled her into his arms, not saying another word, holding her against his virile body with her feet dangling against his legs. When he kissed her, her entire world toppled to the side, taking her with it.


© Lorie O’Clare

Play Dirty

Author: Lorie O’Clare

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Buy link



4 Speak To Me:

Brandy W on 30 September 2010 at 02:06 said...

This is my second time seeing this book and I'm pretty interested in it. It'll definitely have to go on my TBB list.

Brandy W on 30 September 2010 at 02:11 said...

Okay I just went it bought it on my Nook. I have a gift card from BN that I keep forgetting about. lol

Mary G on 30 September 2010 at 04:42 said...

Oh wow, I just started reading this one and I'm hooked.

Kelly aka yllektra(I Work For Books) on 30 September 2010 at 10:06 said...

Wow this looks so good and the cover is so delicious! XDD