UPDATE: The winner is…Steph!
*~*~*

On September 12th, the next book in my new We Are Dead Horse, MT, series, Hard Knox, releases! So, I thought it was time for you to meet my main characters. I’ve included a snippet below for you! In the opening, we’re treated to a bit of Carleen Crossley’s mindset. She’s a woman on a mission to capture the one man she can’t have: Knox Ramsey. Carleen has no inhibitions or shame when it comes to her pursuit, much to the town’s enjoyment.

If you’ve read the books in the Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, you’ve seen Carleen in some of the later stories in the series. Plus, she appears in Book #1 of the new series, Cold Hard Cash. Let’s just say, Carleen knows how to make an impression.

Meet Carleen…

Knox Ramsey was a man most folks in Dead Horse, Montana, shied away from. His tall, burly frame was imposing enough. Add the dark eyebrows that seemed perpetually lowered over his nearly black, piercing eyes and his huge, meaty fists, and he made most folks shiver with dread whenever his gaze swung their way.

However, Carleen Crossley wasn’t “most folks.” When she looked at Knox, she shivered the same as anyone, but for a very different reason. To her, Knox was The One.

She’d known it since she was a teenager, working after school to earn money for her cheerleading outfits. Knox hadn’t been the one to hire her—his mother, Dorothea Ramsey, had for no other reason than to annoy her son. Plus, she’d placed Carleen in the front office, doing little tasks that didn’t really need doing in a rough and tumble place like the Ride or Die Body and Repair Shop—like filing (who needed paperwork unless you wanted the grease-grimed fingerprints for a forensics audit), janitorial work (again, years’ worth of engine oil and grease couldn’t be wiped away with a little or a lot of degreasers), and making coffee (she had never mastered making the sludge Knox thought of as an actual beverage).

Even when she’d been sixteen, she’d recognized his appeal by the way her ovaries cramped in his presence. As she’d grown older, she’d noted other “proof,” like how her nipples beaded hard and her cheeks and groin got hot just being in his presence. She could feel him the moment he came into her vicinity. The air hummed with electricity. Her sex gave her warning, too, instantly softening and getting wet. When she turned and met that black gaze, her heart would stutter and then pound. Whatever she was doing, whatever thought was flitting through her mind, ground to a halt as she took him in. Looking at him was like downing a shot of whiskey—bracing and exhilarating.

Knox, with his deadly glare and biker’s windswept hair, was a bad boy through and through. And she had a mighty thirst for the biggest, baddest boy in Dead Horse, Montana.

Too bad the man didn’t feel the same way about her. After years of flaunting her body and seeking ways to slide up against him to tempt him, he still managed to deflect her affections.

Not that Carleen was ready to give up…

*~*~*

If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy—here’s the link: Hard Knox

Contest

For a chance to win your choice of story in the Montana Bounty Hunters series or a copy of Cold Hard Cash, let me know if you’ve read any of the stories, and if you have, which was your favorite?

Almost everyone has heard stories of employees gathering around the water cooler or coffee machine to gossip and/or socialize. But not all places of employment have such gathering spots—especially since the pandemic when social gathering was prohibited. Although social distancing and other pandemic precautions have been lifted for most businesses, it still remains in others. I begin this post with a business that has neither a water cooler nor a coffee machine and that still enforces pandemic precautions. I mentioned this because it seems to be relevant to today’s topic.

As August began, parents geared up for back-to-school and the anguish of locating (and paying for) all the items on the dreaded school supply list. It also included the pride of posting first-day photos on social media. Since the people who inspired me to write this post work adhering to previously mentioned guidelines, they rely heavily on social media interactions with each other. In other words, not only are they coworkers, they are on each other’s social media contacts and friends lists. To put it into perspective, since no one is gathering, employees spend their spare minutes or downtime scrolling each other’s social media.

Now one may question why this is a big deal or how it is any different than what anyone else is doing. Well, it comes down to the quantity. Pre-pandemic, a person may show one or two, or even half a dozen photos of a vacation or a newborn on his/her cell phone. But social media allows access to hundreds of photos. Not only that but when gathered to look at photos on a phone, there usually is a time limit. For example, a break may only be five or ten minutes. How many photos can be shared in that time? Furthermore, it’s at work. Thus, the person sharing is present. However, social media transcends work and can be viewed anywhere. Additionally, when gathered in an employee lounge, usually only one or two people have time to share. Yet, on social media, employees have access to everyone they are friends with. This becomes an abundance of material.

In May, a supervisor’s youngest child graduated from high school. For the first time in twenty-four years, she found herself not doing either of these things and felt left out of the “parent club.” (Psst… One never stops being a parent no matter how old the child.) However, she was scrolling through the photos and had nothing to share. You may be wondering, “What about the first day of college?” Well, for her, it was sort of a non-thing for two reasons. First, her son decided not to go away to college. That meant no room to decorate, moving in stories, or real shopping to do. The local joke about this community college is that it is grade thirteen. So many local students go there that literally it is like being in the same high school. Everyone already knows everyone. The campus is small and familiar. Every local school has at least one event at the college per year. And there’s not much to the landscape. Since the campus is condensed, there’s not much greenery—just six or seven buildings for classrooms all stacked atop each other and a few more on the backside that serves as dormitories for out-of-town students.

Second, her son did what a lot of local students do their senior year. I don’t know if it is common across the country or just in this area, but by the time most local students become seniors, they only lack one or two credits from graduating. That means, some of these students only go to class for an hour a day. For others, they take “dual credit” courses in which they receive both high school and college credit. He had done just that. But there’s more. He wasn’t interested in pursuing a college degree but felt pressured by his family to do so. In an effort to dissuade (or persuade depending on how one views it) the family that college wasn’t the right path, he enrolled in summer courses. So, come August, he already had his first semester under his belt. Thus, it genuinely wasn’t a “first” day, although, one could technically argue it was the first day of a new semester. However, the problem with that is that he’d enrolled in online courses. I guess she could have taken a photo of him in his room.

The point of all this was that this saddened her. Additionally, she hadn’t taken a summer vacation and didn’t have anything exciting happening in her life. As she began to reflect on the past months, she felt that she had missed out on summer entirely. And when she decided to try to make late summer plans, she discovered it was harder than she thought. Most places had already stored away summer inventory (e.g., bathing suits, sandals, pool toys, etc.) and stocked the shelves with fall. Summer rentals were booked, and soaring temperatures closed some events prematurely (e.g., the zoo). With each passing hour, she grew more depressed, and it persisted each day. Barely a week into the month, she was sobbing almost consistently at her desk. I knew it had to be more than about not having photos to post on social media. That was just the catalyst that brought the deep-rooted problem to the surface. She was mourning loss—an empty nest that wasn’t really empty.

Yes, her child still lived in her home but not as a child. He was now an adult, independent, and capable of residing on his own. Aside from being in college, he’d gotten a job (although it didn’t pay enough to support himself) and spent much of his time away from home. All of her children had been active in sports and activities while in school, and now that was gone. Even in church, her children had been the reason for much of her involvement. And like so many other businesses, the pandemic had affected her church in that many of the events they used to host were indefinitely canceled due to resource shortages. For example, they were unable to obtain the necessary materials to repair their recreational center; therefore, no activities could be held there. She now had spare time and no idea how to fill it.

Her husband’s job (as well as being a part of the Army National Guard Reserves) required him to travel, and sometimes, he was away for months on end. His current full-time job didn’t pay as much as his previous job (he’d quit due to disagreements with his employer), and he worked longer hours to make up for some of the difference. It also should be noted that she married her husband shortly after graduating high school and began having babies two years into the marriage. In short, she has never been on her own. There have always been parents or siblings, or children or her husband filling her space. But now, she was beginning to feel the vacancy.

Her story is not much different from many others and is a sharp reminder to not lose self or one’s identity in life. It is important to carve out a piece of life that is devoted to oneself and that is apart from everything else. Aside from occasionally reading, this supervisor has no hobbies or interests that do not involve her husband or children. She admitted that she was not used to spending prolonged periods alone and felt antsy.

I pondered her dilemma for a good while before posing the question to other friends. How can situations like this be avoided?

1. The first step (and perhaps the most important) is to acknowledge where the sadness stems from. On the surface, it seemed like the supervisor was merely upset to not have content for social media. However, the problem was rooted much deeper. She was grieving the changes in her life and a loss of feeling purpose.
2. Recognize that you are not alone. If your sadness is great, consider joining a support group or seeking assistance from a mental health professional. This is 2023, and there’s no disgrace in asking and/or seeking help. Besides, mental health professionals are bound to uphold confidentiality. Thus, no one has to know. Plus, there are many options for therapy, including online counseling. There are also flexible pay scales to fit almost any budget, including some free services and services covered by insurance. Some jobs offer counseling services to employees as a free, confidential services that does not require filing on insurance. Mental well-being is important, and it’s better to begin when issues are small as it’s far better to tend to a scrape before it becomes infected.
3. As mentioned previously, develop hobbies and interest just for you that doesn’t revolve around or depend on family.
4. Make friends that do not require you to be coupled off. For example, the supervisor spoke of having many friends. However, the only interaction she had with those friends was with her husband or family. Her only one-on-one interactions with these friends were brief—usually while awaiting their children finishing practice of some sort.
5. Take a class. One never is too old or too knowledgeable to learn something new. If going to class isn’t your thing or makes you feel uncomfortable, enroll in an online course.
6. Go for walks and take in nature. It doesn’t have to be long or some treacherous hike—just something to get you out of the house and moving about. Studies have shown that motion increases endorphins which may lessen feelings of sadness.
7. Get involved with the local theatre. It’s a good way to make new friends and increase social interactions. And speaking of…
8. Reduce time on social media. While it’s fun and interesting to peep what family and friends are doing, it also can be destructive. The saying “all that glitters isn’t gold” is true. Social media sometimes make ordinary events look more glamorous than they really are. Sure, the designer shoes on your coworker looked amazing, but the photo didn’t indicate how they pinched her toes and or caused blisters. And that fabulous vacation photo wasn’t tagged with how it had maxed out the credit card. Additionally, some photos are 100 and/or photoshopped. Using social media as a reference to other people’s reality is a bad idea.
9. Revisit the past and reconnect with old friends whom you may have lost touch with. Chances are, they may be experiencing the same feelings as you and would like someone to go out to lunch or have a drink with you.
10. Create a bucket list of things that you want to do and that make you happy. But don’t just create the list. Do it.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a YA contemporary romance author, I love movies that have characters with an irresistible connection.

5. 13 Going on 30: How perfect is Jennifer Garner in this role? Everything about this works from the thoughtful dollhouse to the way Matty looks at her as an adult. Swoon! They are so cute together. My favorite scenes are where he slows sees her as the girl he fell in love with all those years before.

4. Peggy Sue Got Married: Okay, so clearly I love those going back in time movies and things involving reflecting back on middle school and high school. This one is a fave because the script is perfection. Peggy Sue has such an overwhelming reaction to ending up back in high school that it feels like this is really happening to her. The scene where she has the emotional response when she hears her Grandma’s voice on the phone—it’s so overwhelming as she’s clearly missed her grandma who is no longer living in the future. Also, the scene where she starts to rewrite her high school experience by dating a different guy and realizing her first love was real after all is touching.

3. Just Friends: The perfect friends to lovers set up. So many good lines that crack me up. The scene where he’s in the car and she’s witnessing him talk to himself over how he blew their lunch date always cracks me up.

2. Roman Holiday: Audrey Hepburn as a princess who wants a taste of a normal life and Gregory Peck as a journalist. It’s sweet, adorable, and a perfect date movie.­

1. Wonder Woman: Love, love, LOVE this one. I teared up a couple times during this movie, but her speech when she tells off the general, the scene with her aunt, and No Man’s Land had me super emotional. Plus, Steve and Diana are so cute as he clearly loves and respects her. Oh, I love this one.

If you love YA contemporary novels with all the feels, you might like my book, Next Door to a Star, about a high school girl who goes to a beach town for the summer and finds herself living next door to a teen TV star and falling in love for the first time.

Next Door to a Star

A fresh start in a new town and a chance to reinvent herself. But can Hadley handle the popular crowd?

Hadley Daniels is sick of being invisible at school and wants a fresh start. She sees a chance to reinvent herself when she moves to the lake resort town of Grand Haven. There she gets her first taste of popularity when she moves next door to a teen actress who used to be on a popular TV show. Simone is everything Hadley longs to be: pretty, popular, and famous, so why doesn’t Simone want to talk about her life in Hollywood? Hadley gets caught up hanging with the popular crowd and starts dating Nick Jenkins.

However, the popular girls turn on her and fill Nick’s head with a lie about Hadley that leaves her heartbroken. Hadley soon finds out what it’s really like to be in the popular crowd and what being famous is all about as Simone opens up to her about her time in Hollywood. Can Hadley find true friendship and true love in a new setting?

Reviews:
​“It’s a beautifully written YA story that was so hard to put down. I loved every minute of it. It’s a perfect teenage drama that I think all girls will enjoy reading. And I just want to say this, no one can write teenage feelings better than Krysten Lindsay Hager. She does it so perfectly, making her characters believable as well as relatable.” Fizza Younis, author

“Take a trip down memory lane, relive your first crush, your first kiss and get to know Hadley who lives ‘Next Door to a Star.’” Leila Tualla, author

It’s free in Kindle Unlimited!!!

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Next-Door-Krysten-Lindsay-Hager-ebook/dp/B08W55KGX1
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Door-Krysten-Lindsay-Hager-ebook/dp/B08W55KGX1
Amazon AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/Next-Door-Krysten-Lindsay-Hager-ebook/dp/B08W55KGX1/
Amazon Can: https://www.amazon.ca/Next-Door-Krysten-Lindsay-Hager-ebook/dp/B08W55KGX1

Find Krysten here:
Website: www.krystenlindsay.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystenlindsay/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHagerAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrystenLindsay
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/krystenlindsay/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Krysten-Lindsay-Hager/e/B00L2JC9P2
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/krysten-lindsay-hager
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClIQCsRcKc97-25oXvabZ8A

UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy!
*~*~*

Hi, everyone! I have to start with a big thank you to Delilah for letting me come play in her space again. I always have a great time with all of you.

It’s my birthday today, and I was thinking the other day about birthdays past. The ones when you’re a kid and they’re a bigger deal. In our house when I was growing up, my mom would make us what we wanted for our birthday dinner, plus bake and decorate our cake (also the flavor of our choice). Blowing out the candles on the cake was a huge thing, making that wish. Trying to decide what to wish for. I don’t think I remember any of those long-ago wishes, I’m sure they were frivolous things, silly things to an adult, but probably important to a little kid—a new doll, some books, a new pet, things along those lines.

Now I’m the adult and the meal and cake are my responsibility, which is fine, I do the same thing for my husband and sons (though I don’t bake their cakes, my decorating skills are awful!).

I do still think about birthday wishes…what I’d like if a birthday wish could come true. I’m a writer, after all, and wishing and what-ifs are part of the job description. These days, though, my birthday wishes are much different than when I was a little girl. I would wish for my family to stay healthy and safe. For more sanity in the world, for people to care about others more and be less hateful. This week, I’d wish for people to treat animals better—there are a lot of stray and feral cats in our neighborhood, and just last week, a pregnant cat showed up; she has a flea collar, so she belonged to someone, but she’s hungry, so she’s showing up at our house where two of the strays have made their home in our carport. I could come up with a more frivolous wish or two if pressed—I’d wish to win the lottery and then I could make sure the cats in our area were all taken care of (after I’ve made sure my family is taken care of, of course, haha), or that I’d sell tons of books—but mostly I think my wishes would be more practical.

What about you? Can you still come up with some fanciful wishes to go along with more practical wishes for your birthday?  I’d love to hear about them. If you comment with your birthday wish(es), I’ll enter you into a drawing for a choice of one of my ebooks. I’ll draw the winner on Monday, July 31, 2023 after noon, so you have a little time to think of a good wish or two.

Thanks again to Delilah for having me!

About the Author

Lifelong book addict Elizabeth Andrews fell in love with romance novels as a teen, a love that’s carried into adulthood. Now she writes her own, full of sexy heroes and strong heroines. Her stories range from paranormal to contemporary, to who knows what her imagination might come up with along the way, but happy endings are a guarantee!

You can find her at ElizabethAndrewsWrites.com

About her Books

Light the Way Home
Single dad Nate Baxter has his hands full with his son and his haunted lighthouse. He doesn’t have time to spend with a woman…especially one who won’t stick around, like his ex-wife.

But Lucie Russo’s not like other women Nate’s met. She’s sweet and sexy, and his mouth waters every time he’s around her.

Will a family emergency cause him to break his relationship rules? And if he does, will his heart be broken too?

Hunting Medusa
Medusa’s Daughters Book 1: When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster. Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.

Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted on her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise. And ends with the two of them in a magical bind—together. But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester on Andi’s trail…

Protecting Medusa
Medusa’s Daughters Book 2: Being the Medusa will put a real crimp in a woman’s social life. Lucky for Philomena Gregory, she gave up on men long before Athena’s curse landed on her head. Not even the naked man in the bathroom will change her mind.

Ryder Ware has waited six years to meet Mena in person. Flirting on the phone and via email is no substitute for face to face when a man is so intrigued. But now that Athena’s Harvesters have found her, Mena has no choice but to let him keep her safe—and close, very close.

UPDATE: The winner is…flchen!
*~*~*

Have you ever read a book where a minor character just steals the scene? I love when it happens, but then I can’t seem to let that character fade into the background.

In my latest release, Jackson, that character was a skip Jackson was hunting named Chrissy Pollack. She featured in the first scene, and I had so much fun with her that I wrote her into another scene where the actual heroine grows more than a little irritated with her. I liked her ballsy attitude so much I’m still thinking about her.

Let me share some snippets from the book, so maybe you’ll get why I love her so much…

Chrissy excerpts…

#1 This is where we first meet her. Jackson tracked her into the woods where’s she partying with friends. The MBH hunters are there, too.

Suddenly, a tall figure strode into the clearing, and the men and women sitting around the fire shot to their feet. Chrissy’s gaze shot sideways, and Jackson put his knuckles in the dirt, leaning forward, ready to follow should she run.

“Name’s Cowboy,” the tall man said as he moved closer. He held out his hands. “Before you reach for any weapons, you might want to listen to what I have to say first.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Nate shouted, shoving Chrissy forward as he backed away a foot or two, his hand already sliding down his side to the scabbard strapped to his thigh.

“I’m a Fugitive Recovery Agent.”

“A what?” another man said, his thick dark eyebrows nearly meeting over his nose.

“A fucking bounty hunter,” another man said.

“I know you,” said yet another. “You’re one of those hunters out of Dead Horse.”

“Seeing as you know me,” Cowboy said, giving the man a hard smile, “you’ll know some of my friends, too. You’re gonna meet ’em all. We’ve got you surrounded.”

“The hell you do,” Nate said, backing up another foot and glancing behind him.

Chrissy darted another glance toward the side, and Jackson pushed up to his feet. The second she decided to run, he dashed into the clearing, unwilling to let her leave his sight.

Around him, coolers crashed while bodies fled in different directions. He didn’t care. The Dead Horse team could handle the rest. He wasn’t letting Chrissy go. He followed her into the darkness, catching glimpses of pale legs and a white tank, hearing her choppy breaths as she ran.

Behind him, he heard more footsteps in pursuit, but he wasn’t letting them get ahead of him. They weren’t touching his bounty.

“Don’t lose him,” a female’s voice said behind him.

Him? Were they thinking he’d lead them to Chrissy and then insert themselves between him and his quarry? “Like hell,” he muttered to himself.

Moonlight barely pierced the canopy above him, but Chrissy’s footsteps were slowing. She sounded winded and wouldn’t last much longer. He slowed his steps, ignoring the sounds behind him, all his focus on the woman ahead of him. He wanted to take her down but didn’t necessarily want to do her any harm. It was against his code to rough up a bounty even though, legally, he had more rights than cops to do so—or at least fewer consequences.

Ahead, he heard a cry and a dull thud. Likely, Chrissy had tripped and fallen. He slowed, whipped out his flashlight, and approached slowly.

She was lying on her belly, pushing up from the damp leaves and dirt, her hair looking wild with leaves and small branches sticking out around her head.

“Jesus…fuck,” she muttered breathlessly, and then her shoulders began shaking.

“Christine Pollack,” he said, keeping his voice calm as he approached, “I’m taking you to jail.” He moved the flashlight to his left hand and unsnapped his taser from his vest as he crouched a bit, ready to act but wanting to see whether she was ready to comply or would pull a weapon from a pocket of her cutoffs. He kept an ear tuned to whoever was behind him, but as long as they kept their distance and didn’t interfere, he’d ignore them.

“Why don’t you just walk away?” she said in a small, surprisingly girlish voice.

“Because I have a job to do, Chrissy,” he said, taking another step. “You blew off your date with the judge. I have to bring you in.”

“I didn’t do nothing,” she said, pushing up from the ground to her knees but not turning toward him. “I don’t deserve this.”

“The police would beg to differ, sweetheart,” he said, keeping his voice calm and hoping it worked to calm her nerves. Sometimes, you had to talk to a skip like they were a feral animal and hope you could get in close enough to put a collar on them for their own good.

“If you’re right,” he continued, “and you did nothing, you’ll get your chance to tell the judge what really happened.” Again, he stepped closer until he was only a foot away from her.

She jerked her head to look back at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving dirty tracks. “I didn’t rob that gas station. Nate did it.”

“That’s good to know,” he said, raising his flashlight high enough that she could see his face and hands, too. “But not why I’m here. It’s about that joyride you took in the front loader.”

Her eyebrows lowered. “I only borrowed it. Just for kicks. Leonard Marx, the son of the man who owns it, was there with me, but he ran off into the woods and lied when the police asked him about it. Said I lied. He’s just afraid his old man will kick his ass.”

“Sounds like you’ll have plenty to say to the judge. But right now, I need you to lie back down and put your hands behind you. I’m taking you in.”

Her gaze flickered over him. Likely, she thought she might be able to take him. Jackson knew his appearance didn’t intimidate. His body was trim rather than weighed down with bulky muscle. His hair was long, reaching his shoulders, and his mustache and goatee made him look more like a musician or artist rather than a bounty hunter. But she’d be underestimating his strength. Most skips did.

When her gaze flicked quickly to the side, a tell, he darted that way and took her to the ground before she had a chance to rush forward more than a step. Jackson dropped his taser and his flashlight and wrestled with the woman. Whether it was adrenaline, the drugs racing around her system, or just plain meanness, he didn’t know, but she surprised him, flipping him onto his back and then punching his face.

Jackson didn’t want to strike her back, and he certainly didn’t want to give the hunters hovering in the woods around him an excuse to intercede. He was not sharing this bounty. But he had to do something to take back control without harming her.

So, he wrapped his arms around her middle, trapping her arms at her sides, and pulled her against his chest.

“What are you doing?” she growled, wriggling inside his embrace.

“Waiting for you to give up,” he said calmly, a little grin playing at the sides of his mouth, although he grimaced when she pinched his side. When she leaned back her head and opened her mouth, he knew she intended to bite whatever she could reach, so he loosened one hand and pushed her head so that her cheek was smashed against his chest.

“Argh!” she shouted, still fighting, likely still thinking she could slip free, but when she figured out she still had her legs loose, he quickly looped one calf over the backs of her knees and kept her immobile.

All she could do now was jerk and wiggle. Her body was fiery hot from her exertions, and her breaths came quicker than when she’d been running. It wouldn’t be long now.

“Shhh,” he said, “easy. You’re not going anywhere, and I’m not gonna hurt you,” he crooned.

“Think he’s gonna hug her into submission?” came a lazy drawl.

“That’s a new move,” came an even lazier drawl.

*~*~*

#2 This is after Chrissy is brought back to the campsite. She just can’t help being “Chrissy.”

“Catch that all on film, did you?” he murmured.

“We did. We’re pretty good at keeping out of the way when takedowns are underway.”

“Too bad,” he said.

“Why’s that?” she asked, blinking at him while trying to maintain her smile despite his indifference.

“Because you won’t be able to use the footage. I’m not signing a waiver.”

“Oh, but you don’t understand. We’d pay you for the rights.”

He shook his head. “Don’t care. Not signing.”

Rachel’s smile slipped. “We’d pay you for tonight’s footage, plus royalties if your clip is used for the sho—”

“Uh-huh. Not interested.”

Rachel drew a deep breath. While she’d love to have this wrapped up with a pretty bow right now, she knew when to back off. Right now, he was likely still a bit angry over the fact the Dead Horse hunters had tracked him to find their skip. Hunters could be territorial. The fact they’d followed him so easily likely stung his pride a bit. She reached into a pocket of her hiking vest and drew out a card. “If you change your mind, you can email or call me here.”

He took the card without looking at it and tucked it into a vest pocket.

She cleared her throat and gave him a pointed stare. “Do you have a card?” His dead-eye glare didn’t intimidate her. She gave him a steady look of her own.

“Pushy much?” Chrissy said from her seat on a camp stool.

When Rachel glanced down at her, the woman gave her a toothy grin. “Don’t think he’s interested.”

Rachel felt heat fill her cheeks.

“At least I’ll have his faithful attention all the way to jail,” the woman said, giving Rachel a wink.

There were many things Rachel could’ve said, but she wasn’t getting into a pissing match with a woman who, an hour ago, had been crying on the forest floor with twigs in her hair.

*~*~*

#3 The last one I’ll share, although I haven’t shared ALL of Chrissy’s antics, is after her attempted escape from Jackson’s custody. Rachel has finagled her way into the front seat of his SUV using some pretty underhanded tactics. Chrissy is restrained in the back seat. 

Rachel had an epic headache.

It didn’t help that Chrissy sat in the back seat singing Chris Isaak’s “Baby did a bad bad thing” from the moment they left the rest stop. The fact that the woman’s voice was really pretty good irritated her even more.

Good Lord, what had she done? She’d blackmailed a man into signing a contract. Okay, so he hadn’t actually signed it yet, but she had him by the shorthairs. Fuck. She was a professional showrunner. What would the network say if they got wind of this? She’d be toast. She’d never ever work again.

She drew a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. As soon as they got rid of the demon in the backseat, she’d apologize to Jackson. As much as she wanted his footage, she wasn’t this person.

Why had she done it? Why had it given her such a rush?

“Baby did a bad bad—”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, aiming a glare over her shoulder at the woman whose cuffs were attached to a chain in the floorboard. “Got another song?”

When Chrissy began “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max, Rachel groaned.

Beside her, Jackson’s lips pursed.

Was he laughing at her?

*~*~*

Chrissy even managed to get a mention in the last chapter of the book—again, because I couldn’t let her go.

My question to you is whether Chrissy deserves her own Dead Horse or MBH story? Answer for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift certificate! If you’ve read Jackson, do you have any suggestions for what she might get up to?

I’m so excited! If you pre-ordered Jackson, you should already have it! It’s a fun, sexy read, and you’ll see the other hunters and folks from around Dead Horse “peopling” the story, too. I love writing in this world. I hope you enjoy their latest adventure. If you have the time and the inclination, please leave a review!

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS:
DEAD HORSE, MT
Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

The games begin when a bounty hunter, who likes working alone, clashes with a cable TV showrunner who’s determined to make him a part of her show…

Jackson Black’s life is just fine. He is free to work when he wants, as much as he wants. He has the freedom of the open road, nothing and nobody weighing him down—until he crosses paths with a group of bounty hunters deep in a national forest, who are trying to steal his skip from under him. Worse, the hunters have a film crew with them, led by a woman who won’t take no when he refuses to sign a contract for the use of the footage her crew has filmed. After giving her his firm no thank you, he loads his skip into his vehicle and drives away.

Rachel Cabot didn’t get where she is, the showrunner for her network’s two highest-rated cable shows, without being committed to her job. She’ll do whatever it takes. If it means following Jackson Brown then catching him on tape doing something sketchy to “convince” him to do what she wants, so be it. However, she suffers immediate remorse and decides to apologize to Jackson but can never find the right moment to do so. What she doesn’t know is that Jackson has turned the tables on her.

When Jackson is invited to join the hunters on a high-value takedown, with Rachel’s crew accompanying them, their personal stakes just get higher.

Get your copy now!

UPDATE: The winner is…Siobhan Dilks!
*~*~*

Thank you, thank you, Powers That Be. I’m almost there. Well, I got to The End last night. Today, I sweep through my book, and hopefully, catch any last typos my beta readers (Thank you Fedora, Laura, and Reina!) didn’t find or I added when I revised.

I love the last line, and I hope it works. I think I’ll share it here. It probably won’t make any sense, but that’s because YOU HAVE TO READ THE BOOK for it to mean anything.

They fell asleep like that. Connected. Dreaming of big fish and the life they’d share.

Big fish? Yeah. Made me smile anyway. I always wonder if anyone else will laugh, chuckle, or at least grin when they read something in my stories.

I don’t try to write a funny scene, but then characters start “talking” in my head, and my fingers fly to try to keep up because they’re going so fast. Sometimes, I don’t even know what I’m writing until it flows off my fingers. I know. It’s the writer’s schizophrenia. It’s an actual thing. Swear.

Anyways, I hope you’ve pre-ordered your copy of Jackson. If you haven’t, you could always pick up a story inside either of my two series, Montana Bounty Hunters and Montana Bounty Hunters: We Are Dead Horse, MT, and start there.

I don’t know how many more bounty hunters my Dead Horse office of the Montana Bounty Hunters can hire, but I’ll try to come up with something plausible so they can all stay happily ever after there. I’d hate to leave Nadine behind. Although, I do think there needs to be a southern bounty hunters story somewhere…

For a chance to win a FREE download of one of my bounty hunter stories, imagine what a Big Fish might have to do with a romance story. Share your wildest idea. Doesn’t have to be good to win!