When the Chips Are Down by Beth Rinyu

 

 

Release Date:

3/20/15

Photo & Cover Design by Lindee Robinson

Excerpt:

I tried my best to ignore him, but I could feel his eyes settling on me. I took a deep breath when he got up and sat next to me. “Well, at least I know your real name now.” I shook my head, still trying to avoid eye contact. “So, how’s your ass doing?”

            “What!?” I finally turned my head and looked directly at him.

            “From your fall the other day.” I looked away. “Was I really that much of an ass to you during high school that you are still carrying a grudge all these years later?”

            “Don’t flatter yourself. It has nothing to do with you.”

            “Oh, okay. So, are you bitchy like this to every guy you come in contact with?”

            “Yeah, maybe I am! What’s it to you?”

            He held his hand up in defense. “Doesn’t matter to me one bit, sweetheart, but you’ve clearly been shafted by a guy a time or two to have an attitude like that. I mean, don’t get me wrong. The bitchy ones are better in bed with all that pent-up aggression.” He smirked and took a sip of his beer.

            “Oh, you are such a pig, you know that? You are the same arrogant ‘I’m so in love with myself’ jock you were back in school! Well, reality check. Despite the fact you may have never grown up, most women have. So your good looks, perfect body, and smooth talking will no longer work.”             He chuckled loudly. “What’s so funny?”

            “I think you just admitted you thought I was good-looking and had a perfect body.”

            “No. That’s not what –” He had me feeling so flustered. “I meant MEN, in general!”

            “Whatever you say, princess.”

            “My name is Melanie! Oh, wait. Maybe you’ll remember Smellanie better!”

            His grin widened. “Ahhhh, now I remember you! You were that cute little blonde girl who used to sit in front of me in French class. You were the little goody two-shoes who always knew exactly how to respond in perfect French to the teacher, while the rest of us struggled to maintain a D average. You know you really didn’t smell, right? That was just a nickname for you.”

            “I know I never smelled, thank you very much!”

            “Well, Smellanie, can I say that you are just as cute now as you were back then?”

            “No, you may not!”