A reporter looking for a big break gets involved with a race car driver with a secret that could destroy his entire team if they find out.
Out June
14th – Crossing the Line by Audra North
Title:
Crossing the Line
Series: Hard Driving #3
Author: Audra North
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Length: 52k words
Format: Digital
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4668-8904-0
Synopsis:
Series: Hard Driving #3
Author: Audra North
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Length: 52k words
Format: Digital
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4668-8904-0
Synopsis:
Corrine Bellows is one of the woefully few women in a male profession: sports reporting. In a field where "Hey, sweetheart, can you fetch me a cup of copy" is part of her job description, she's determined to keep things professional. And while interviewing Ty Riggs, the hottest new driver on and off the track, is a major scoop, Corrine knows that she is in major trouble when it becomes clear that Ty wants so much more and is determined to get it. As things heat up between them, Corrine finds herself on shakier ground. Her big secret just may destroy everything.
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Excerpt
“And Riggs makes another attempt to—yes! He grabs the lead with only ten laps to go! Ladies and gentlemen, keep your eyes peeled because this will no doubt be a finish y’all don’t want to miss!”
“And Riggs makes another attempt to—yes! He grabs the lead with only ten laps to go! Ladies and gentlemen, keep your eyes peeled because this will no doubt be a finish y’all don’t want to miss!”
Cori
Bellowes pressed her face against the glass wall that overlooked the track.
Throughout most of the race, the announcer’s voice had barely cut over the din
in the press box. But now that they were getting close to the finish, the race
was becoming more intense. All the reporters had grown quiet, barely breathing
as they watched the drivers jockey for position at over a hundred fifty miles
an hour.
One
of the series’ newer drivers—Ty Riggs—had just overtaken a veteran racer and
was pulling away from the pack. It was his second year in the Intercomm Cup,
the highest level of stock car racing, but he’d come up through the ranks over
the past dozen years and made a name for himself in the sport and in celebrity
news.
It
certainly didn’t hurt that he was gorgeous, too. But his very fine looks were
secondary to his racing abilities.
So
it wasn’t a surprise that he was tearing things up down there, but that didn’t
make it any less exciting. Cori had been following Riggs in the news for years,
well before she’d gone to college, then on to journalism school to become a
sports reporter. He was known for being intense and focused on the track, but
the most laid-back, affable guy off of it.
Except
for the knock-down, drag-out fight with Dave Gilroy that he’d gotten into after
last week’s race, that was.
Poor
Ty was driving today with a not-quite-healed shiner from that scuffle. Of
course, the fight—and the subsequent gossip swirling around about the reasons
why he and Gilroy came to blows—was one of the main reasons why Cori was here,
in the first place. She couldn’t feel too sorry about it.
“And
there’s Gilroy in third, trying to make a move up but—no! He’s blocked by
Colt!”
Uh
oh. A similar move was how the fight started last week. Ty was in the lead and
managed to shut out Gilroy on the last lap.
Gilroy
accused Ty of cheating and, to everyone’s surprise, it was Ty’s fist that flew
first.
Cori
contented herself with the assumption that, since it was Kerri Colt who had
blocked Gilroy this week, he wouldn’t dare hit a woman, even if she threw the
first punch.
She
hoped, anyway. Gilroy wasn’t exactly a model citizen.
The
cars seemed to pick up speed and even from up in the box, she could hear the
scream of the engines on the track below. Ty was still in the lead, hanging on
to his position by a narrow margin of distance. She wondered how he felt,
knowing that if he won, fans would probably be hoping he’d get into another
fight. A driver like Ty, who’d never publicly lost his temper before? It was
too sensational not to.
Of
course, she didn’t believe the accusations of cheating that Gilroy had slung at
Ty. But she could see how, once suspicion was raised, people would begin to
wonder. Ty had been on a winning streak at the end of last season, and last
week he’d won the first race of this season by a significant margin.
Fans
were starting to talk. People would probably want answers.
The
orange and white of Ty’s car—the trademark color of his biggest sponsor—was
nearly a blur from above.
To
have a sponsor like that was what teams dreamed of. It was impressive. But
then, so was the team’s founder, Bobby Riggs—a retired racer and Ty’s dad.
Bobby had started his own racing team twenty years ago after leaving Youngtown
Racing and had built it into a multi-million dollar operation with eight
drivers on the payroll.
It
would be almost too perfectly tragic, to bring down the biggest names in racing
based on a single post-race throwaway insult.
On
the track, the pack whipped around the curve, Ty in the lead.
She
tried not to let her plans for Ty bother her. Despite the matching black eye
he’d given Gilroy, which the other driver definitely deserved, she knew from
years of watching his career that Ty was a good guy. She didn’t like the idea
of deceiving him.
That’s
not your problem. This is your only chance.
Right.
She couldn’t allow her misgivings to get in the way of getting the information
she needed.
If
he won today, he’d give the reporters ten minutes of Q&A in the press room
after the race. Either way, tomorrow during Media Day, she would have a chance
to interview him one-on-one.
A
one-on-one with Ty Riggs. She allowed herself a small, excited smile.
“Keep
your eyes peeled, honey. It’s about to get good.” The reporter standing next to
her, a man in his mid-forties—who’d been standing way too close to her all
day—nudged her with his beefy shoulder. She tottered on her heels, but pressed
her palm against the window, steadying herself before she toppled over.
Asshole.
She
didn’t even care about the nudge as much as she did the comment. Only a
complete idiot wouldn’t realize that the race was about to get good. It already
had, in fact. She knew racing. She loved racing. And she was a damned good
journalist. She’d waited for too long and worked too hard to give up the chance
to actually report on something, instead of fetching coffee and answering
phones.
Even
if that chance had come at a price.
She
suppressed the urge to nudge the guy back…with the spike of her heel. He wasn’t
the first man to think that blond hair and a pencil skirt merited condescension
and inappropriate come-ons. She was used to male reporters being assholes. She
worked for one, after all. And her boss had already asked her to do something
that was outside her comfort zone. Something that the wire service she worked
for should never have even considered, in the first place.
But
what was done, was done. And she was about to deceive one of the most genuinely
good people in the racing business.
That
was why she was feeling so nervous beneath the excitement.
She
wanted to release some of those nerves by inflicting bodily harm on the
condescending reporter, but responding to the jerk at her side would only draw
undue attention to her. And she already had enough, being the lone woman in the
press box. She didn’t want too many eyes on her in the coming weeks.
So
she nodded her head just slightly in acknowledgment, then focused on the track
below. As soon as it was over, they’d be rushing to the press room, and she
wanted to be sure she didn’t miss a moment of the race.
The
announcer’s voice echoed through the box. “Going into lap one-ninety-five, and
Colt is working her way through the pack. She’s moving up behind Riggs…she’s
challenging him…but Riggs blocks! Colt is forced to drop back with only five
laps to go.”
Cori
watched Kerri Colt’s car as it chased Riggs’s around the next lap. The two were
famous for their friendly rivalry on the track and their close relationship off
it. Not that there was anything romantic going on between them. Colt was
formerly Kerri Hart, the only woman driver in stock car racing, who had married
her team co-owner, Ranger Colt, last year. Kerri and Ranger seemed like the
happiest couple Cori had ever seen—at least, they did in the photos of them
online. Cori had followed Kerri for a long time, too, starting back when Kerri
had still been racing on the Indy circuit. Colt was only a couple years older
than Cori, but she’d already accomplished so much, and in one of the toughest
sports imaginable.
Cori
might faint if she actually got to meet the woman in person.
Of
course, that probably wouldn’t earn her any points as a serious journalist.
Then
again, considering that Cori was about to perpetrate the most ethically
questionable act of her life, a little fainting might not matter at all.
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Candi’s Bookshelf
Alpha Book Club
What I thought about Crossing the Line
About the Author
Candi’s Bookshelf
Alpha Book Club
What I thought about Crossing the Line
Ty Riggs has a problem. He's recently blown his cool with a fellow driver over accusations of cheating and even though he's not involved, past history could come back to haunt him.
Cori Bellows is a reporter hired to get the dirt on Ty, but when she meets him for the first time, there's a connection there that has her questioning whether she can go through with what her boss wants her to do. It doesn't help that Ty is totally in immediate lust for her, and things get steamy between them.
They both find that the feelings they have are more than just lust, but neither wants to say it just yet. But when outside forces threaten their budding relationship, it could mean that it's over before it even gets started.
This was a very sweet love story. I particularly liked Ty and how he fell hard for Cori. Cori is a bit conflicted with keeping her secret from Ty, and that ends up causing some real problems between them.
This title worked very well as a standalone for me as I hadn't read the previous two books in the series. It's novella sized so it made for a nice afternoon read for me. I liked the diversity in Crossing the Line as well. I wish the cover would have better depicted this aspect of the story.
Overall, a cute, quick well-written story. While I thought that the tension could have been used to make the story a little more exciting and fast-paced, I enjoyed Crossing the Line.
ARC provided for review.
ARC provided for review.
Audra enjoys speaking to writing groups and at industry conferences. She is also an avid jogger and loves running marathons. She has three children and lives with her family outside of Boston.
You can visit her online at the following places:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
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