One
Last Call, Book 4, Madison Falls Series
Susan
Behon
Release
Date: February 29, 2016
Background:
One
Last Call, Book 4 in the Madison Falls Series, centers around Sarah
Brandon, Sophie’s sister who was introduced in Book 1. Sarah owns
the Suds and Spuds, a popular bar and grill where most of the
characters hang out and attend karaoke night once a month. Sarah
leaves work one night and gets into a car wreck while avoiding
hitting a deer in the middle of the road. Her long lost love, Josh
Logan comes to her rescue. They soon find out that the car wreck was
no accident and someone is out to hurt Sarah. Josh is determined to
protect her and win her back in the meantime. There is a thin line
between love and hate. Their arguments turn heated and their kisses
even more so! Old flames burn hotter in Madison Falls.
Blurb:
Sarah
Brandon is having the night from Hell.
Thanks
to a deer playing chicken in the middle of the road, Sarah is forced
to make a frantic ditch dive and gets stuck in her wrecked vehicle.
Fiercely independent, the idea of being a damsel in distress chafes
more than the seat belt holding her in at an odd angle.
Stranded
and needing a rescue, the last person she expects to be her knight in
shining armor is Josh Logan. Even with the sexy southern drawl and
bad-boy charm, her long lost love could just as well stay lost as far
as Sarah is concerned.
She’s
had it with men. With a cheating ex-husband trying to win her back
and a too sexy for his own good ex-boyfriend trying to make amends,
she doesn’t need any more trouble. Trouble finds her anyway when it
comes to light that the cause of her accident is no accident. Someone
is out to hurt her, and Josh wants to protect her before it’s too
late.
Josh
considers it fate that he finally has a chance to explain to Sarah
why he left town without a word the summer after graduation. It was
years ago, but he never stopped loving her. Secrets from the past and
threats from the present collide in a dangerous game that could cost
Sarah her life. One kiss at a time, Josh is out to prove that he
would slay dragons for her if she would only give a lost love found a
second chance.
Mini
Blurb:
Stranded
and needing a rescue, the last person Sarah Brandon expects to be her
knight in shining armor is Josh Logan. One kiss at a time, Josh is
out to prove that he would slay dragons for her if she would only
give a lost love found a second chance.
Tagline:
Ready
for a little small town fooling around? Romance that’s the perfect
mix of sweet and spicy!
Buy Links:
Author
Bio
Susan
Behon, author of the Madison Falls series, enjoys creating a world
that brings readers romance, laughter, and a healthy dose of
sexiness. Susan graduated summa cum laude with a B. A. in English
from Norfolk State University. She currently lives in Ohio with her
very own romance hero of a husband and their two wonderful daughters.
Author
Social Media:
Pre-order
link
Quotes:
~They’d been done for years. Over and then some. Touching Josh
out of necessity now should be no big deal.
No problem. She
was a grown woman now. Besides, he was an ass…with a nice ass.
Shut
up, Sarah.
~“Hey there, Sarah sunshine.”
An achingly familiar, deep baritone with a sexy southern drawl
drifted through the window on her left. There was only one man who
had ever called her “sunshine.” She didn’t want to turn her
head and see Josh Logan attached to that voice.
Maybe she could fake deafness and he’d go away?
That theory was shot to hell when he murmured, “Hey there,
darlin’. You okay?”
Sarah snapped. “Do I
look okay to you?”
In her frustration, she’d managed to turn her head to look at
him. He was barely lit by the console lights. Still, the full impact
of his blue-eyed gaze hit her like a slug to the chest.
Oh. My.
It was Josh all right.
He still had that same chiseled jawline that she used to love
tracing with her lips. The bastard hadn’t even had the decency to
go bald and fat.
~“You flipped the switch. You’re using verbal foreplay to lure
me in!”
“Verbal foreplay? Honey, this is the way I talk.” He ran a hot
fingertip down the side of Sarah’s neck in a slow glide. The tone
of his voice became wickedly indulgent. “I can’t help it if you
like it.”
“I don’t like it!”
Man, I’m such a liar.
“You little liar. I remember everythin’ you like.”
~Her mouth went dry from seeing Josh up close and brightly lit.
Sarah managed a nod as she took in his faded blue T-shirt that
showcased defined biceps and a broad chest. The washed-out cotton
encased a stomach that was still annoyingly flat. A hint of a tattoo
on his upper left arm peeked out of the short sleeve. Sarah couldn’t
make out what it was. From what she could see, the design looked
intricate. She wanted to push up that sleeve and explore him…no,
wait, explore the tattoo. Not him. Definitely not him.
~Josh soothed her with nonsense and the strength of his arms
around her. “Come on, sunshine. It’s all gonna be all right. If
all that hell wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t be here right
now, sittin’ smack in the middle of heaven, holdin’ you.”
~Josh, you underestimate my love for bacon and my…”
“…hatred of me?” Josh wished he wouldn’t have reminded her
of it.
“I don’t hate you.” Sarah’s expression shuttered, and the
vibrancy she’d shown while they were bantering disappeared.
“You don’t? What would you call it, then?”
Sarah closed her eyes and let out a
deep, frustrated breath. “Look, it was a long time ago. I don’t
want to talk about it. Let’s forget it and move on, okay?”
Josh opened her door and helped her up
as gently as possible. He started the truck, and they drove along in
silence for a few moments.
“No.”
~“No, it’s not going to work. Whatever you have in mind, you
can forget it. These aren’t the good old days, and I’m not some
naive teenager ready to melt over a Southern twang and some sloppy
kisses.”
“Whoa, wait. What do you mean sloppy? My kisses were never
sloppy. You used to love my kisses. You weren’t complainin’ back
then.”
“I didn’t know any better. Live and learn.”
“When I kiss you—and that’s a
when,
not an
if—the last word you’ll
be thinkin’ is
sloppy. That’s
if you’ll be thinkin’ anythin’ at all.”
“Aren’t you sure of yourself? One thing hasn’t changed.
You’re still as cocky as ever. You can forget it. There is no
when;
there isn’t even an
if when it
comes to you kissing me. Dream on, bud.”
Excerpts:
“Don’t scream, sunshine. You’ll wake up the neighbors.”
Josh was reclined on top of her covers, bare feet crossed one over
the other and his hands tucked behind his head. His black T-shirt
stood out starkly against the pastel colors of her quilt. His faded
blue jeans were slung low and outlined his lower half to perfection.
Sarah didn’t know what had her heart pumping faster, getting
startled by seeing a man in her bed or the actual sight of that sexy
man reclining on her bed like he belonged there.
“Josh?” Sarah hissed. “What the hell are you doing in here?
How did you get in? You better hope my mom didn’t hear you!”
He sat up and ran his fingers through the short layers of his
tawny brown hair before rubbing the back of his neck. “Am I the
only one here havin’ déjà vu?”
“How did you get in here?”
His grin was anything but innocent. “You should lock your
window, darlin’. Anyone could climb on in here.”
“What if my mom heard you? You could have woken her up!”
“Doubt it.”
“Why is that?”
“She’s not here.”
“She’s not?” So Sarah had been tiptoeing for nothing? “How
do you know?”
“She’s still with my dad.”
“At this time of night?” Sarah felt ridiculous as soon as she
asked the question.
“Yep. Guess they’re havin’ a slumber party.” He raised his
eyebrows in innuendo. She ignored the images that volley brought
forth.
“Then why didn’t you knock and come through the front door
like a normal person?”
“I was feelin’ nostalgic.”
“You’ve never climbed in my bedroom window before.”
“I
know. But I wanted to.”
*****
“Damn my life. Even Bambi’s out to get me!”
Sarah Brandon held on to the steering wheel of her car, heart
pounding in her chest, trying to pretend that she hadn’t just taken
a nose dive into a ditch. If she admitted the reality of that, she
would have to add in the regrettable detail of the ditch running
alongside a dark and deserted back road. Once that became a fact, she
would have to deal with the ominous-looking wall of trees that
surrounded the scary, dark, and deserted back road. Anything could be
hiding in those woods—wild animals, werewolves, Freddy
Kruger—anything.
Who wanted to admit to landing in the plot of a bad horror movie?
Considering it was well past midnight and she was by herself…not
Sarah.
This isn’t happening.
She peeked out the driver’s-side window, checking for any serial
killers who might be lurking, just waiting to pounce on her. At this
angle, Sarah couldn’t see much of anything beyond the murky fronds
of tall grass encircling her.
Perfect hiding spot for a crazy
killer.
Not that there were any psycho criminals in Madison Falls lately,
but in this town, you never knew.
Sarah was still freaked out from nearly hitting the deer standing
smack dab in the middle of the road. She’d swerved in time to miss
it, just not quickly enough to miss the damned ditch. The buck hadn’t
moved until the tail end of her Mini Cooper was ass-up at an odd
angle. Sarah swore he gave her a “sucks to be you” toss of his
antlers before turning and prancing off into the woods.
Bambi was right. It did, presently, suck to be her. Sarah’s door
was jammed, and she refused to climb out the driver’s-side window
without any shoes on. Lord knew what sort of muck would squish
between her toes while she tried to hoof it out of there. In the
daylight, she wouldn’t be so prissy. In the dead of night, it was
another story. If she had to traipse through muck, Sarah wanted to
see it first.
Where the hell did my shoes go?
Sarah remembered taking them off before getting in her car and
heading home. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember where
she’d put them. Her feet had been sore from doing a double shift
and filling in for one of her bartenders. Not thinking she’d be
standing that long, she’d made the unfortunate decision to wear
high heels to work. Sarah’s Suds and Spuds was always crowded on
Friday night and her business had been hopping.
Her aching feet were still paying for it.
She could practically hear her mom warning her to never drive
barefoot and to always wear clean underwear in case of an accident.
In her current predicament, Sarah understood the necessity of shoes.
She still didn’t get the clean underwear thing. Of course she
always wore it, but did the doctor actually check?
What would he say? “Sarah has sustained a few contusions, Mrs.
Brandon. Not to worry, her prognosis is good. We’re pleased to
report that for once, she followed your advice, and wore clean
underwear.”
Sarah couldn’t really picture Dr. Anthony over at the Madison
Falls Medical Center making that announcement to her mother. Even
though the young doctor was kind of cute, she didn’t think he had
any desire to check out her panties. Then again, no one had any
desire to check out her panties lately. She shook off the thought.
Sarah had more important things to worry about.
Her pulse slowed as she listened to the symphony of night sounds
coming from the surrounding woods. They didn’t sound too
threatening. Crickets, frogs, and the odd mosquito or two kept her
company while Sarah tried to figure out her next move. She used the
steering wheel as leverage to keep the seat belt from digging into
her neck. At least her airbags hadn’t deployed and smooshed her
into the driver’s seat. Good news for her unbroken nose, but
shouldn’t they have gone off?
Twin headlights came over the rise in the road, lighting up the
darkness like two beacons of hope.
Thank God. She hadn’t had
a chance to call anyone for help yet. Most normal people were asleep
by now.
Please let it be a Good Samaritan and not Leather Face.
Whoever got out of the still rumbling truck was backlit in the wash
of bright headlights, so she couldn’t tell who it was.
She strained to look out the back window through the reflection in
the rearview mirror and made out the figure of a man…a big man.
Although Sarah knew practically everyone in her small town, that
didn’t stop her from holding the steering wheel one-handed while
searching through her purse for her pepper spray.
She prayed it was someone with good intentions because he was
making his way down the incline at a fast clip. Sarah didn’t think
her breath spray, all she could find by feel, would do much damage.
Maybe if the Binaca got in his eyes, it would sting a little. It
would hardly incapacitate someone, though.
“Hey there, Sarah sunshine.”
An achingly familiar, deep baritone with a sexy southern drawl
drifted through the window on her left. There was only one man who
had ever called her “sunshine.” She didn’t want to turn her
head and see Josh Logan attached to that voice. Sarah had known he’d
come back a few months ago to work with his dad at the Madison Falls
Garage. She’d been avoiding that establishment ever since she’d
heard the news. As a matter of fact, Sarah made a point of driving
the extra half hour to get her oil changed somewhere else.
Josh was a ghost from Sarah’s youthful past. He was her first
failed attempt at love. He’d broken her heart when he’d left town
the summer after graduation. After an entire school year of
dating—
dog years to a teenager—Josh hadn’t even said
goodbye to her in person. She’d been left wondering what the hell
happened to him. Sarah preferred thinking of him as having dropped
off the face of the Earth. Reality and the man standing outside her
car was telling her otherwise.
It was a bitter pill to swallow to realize that after over a
decade later, and an ex-husband under her belt, her taste in men
still hadn’t improved. Sarah didn’t need a blast from her past to
remind her of it.
Maybe I can fake deafness and he’ll go away?
That theory was shot to hell when he murmured, “Hey there,
darlin’. You okay?”
Sarah snapped. “Do I
look okay to you?”
In her frustration, she’d managed to turn her head to look at
him. He was barely lit by the console lights. Still, the full impact
of his blue-eyed gaze hit her like a slug to the chest.
Oh. My.
It was Josh all right.
He still had that same chiseled jawline that she used to love
tracing with her lips. The bastard hadn’t even had the decency to
go bald and fat. No, Josh had gone the opposite route. He was in
better shape now than when they were in high school. The lean, rangy
build of a teenager had morphed into the broad, muscular build of a
very fit, very hot, grown man. From what Sarah could see, his tawny
brown hair was still thick too.
Where’s the justice in that? Can’t karma at least give him
a bad comb-over?
