Title: A STEEL TOWN
Series: A Gateway to Love, #3
Author: Chloe T. Barlow
Genre: New Adult, Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: January 11, 2016
Blurb
How do you protect the woman you love, when you fear you are
the very person who could destroy her?
Claudia McCoy has been told what she can't do enough for one
lifetime. After a near-fatal childhood battle with juvenile diabetes and having
to accept that her dreams of serving in the military would never come true,
she's thrilled to begin a life on her own terms. Yet, when she finally starts
her career in the FBI, Claudia is furious that her condition and overbearing
big brother, Wyatt, have both once again interfered with her ability to have
the life she truly wants. Now derailed from her high-profile aspirations of a position
in the FBI's D.C. headquarters, she is instead planted far away from the real
action, and practically right in her brother's Pittsburgh backyard.
Trey Adler is known for fixing things, but he's broken just
as many — leaving him with regrets that never go away. He'd be the first to
agree he should stay away from a nice girl like Claudia, but he can't deny his
friend Jenna Sutherland's request when she asks him to use his position as a
temporary FBI consultant to keep Claudia safe — especially as it's clear this
little firecracker needs protecting. Far away from all the action she so
craves, Claudia is more determined than ever to prove herself in her first
major investigation at whatever cost — and those costs are proving to be
dangerously high.
Their battle of wills turns quickly into a powerful need for
one other, making them both rethink everything they ever wanted.
Excerpt
Looking up into his sharp gray eyes, Claudia licked her
lips and asked, "Why don't you have a tattoo here, Trey? You have them all
over your chest, but not here where your heart beats."
"I'll answer your question about the bare spot
over my heart, but you have to answer one for me. It's been bothering me ever
since I met you."
"Okay, shoot."
"Are you sure? You won't like it, but you'll still
have to tell me the truth."
Trey's fingers were slipping back and forth against her
thighs, caressing her lightly.
"What?" she sputtered out. "Of co-ourse.
It's a waste of time for me not to tell the truth. I suck at lying."
"Being bad at lying and being honest are two very
different things."
"Fine. I promise to be honest," she answered, her
throat drying with each persistent press of his hands, punctuated by the gentle
circular motion of his thumbs against her inner thighs.
"Good. Then this will be an easy way for you to
get what you want."
"Um, okay. What do you want to know?"
"Are you a virgin?"
"That's your question?"
"Yes," he answered, letting his hands squeeze
the sides of her legs, hard, sending a new set of shocks and tingles along her
nerve endings. "Last night you ordered me to deal with you. Well, then I deserve to
know what I am dealing with."
She swallowed roughly, trying to use her prior
irritation to pull herself back to reason.
"It's a ludicrous thing to ask. Plus, it's such a
dumb male thing to care about or think you have the right to know."
"Uh-uh, little one. You're not answering my
question. If you want to start making rules, then you have to be able to play
by them, too."
"What do you think is the answer? I'm twenty-three..." she said, her breaths
coming out in short puffs of air. Claudia pressed her palms on the table,
trying to get up. Trey slammed his hands over hers and met her eyes with a
blazing fury that made his gray irises look like swirling, melted steel.
"You're doing it again, Claudia. I've got all the
time in the world, nowhere to be...and no desire to answer your question. If you want to
back out so I don't have to tell the truth, then so be it."
She moved her face to avoid his eyes, "You're
ridiculous."
Trey leaned in closer to her, using his nose against
her cheek to force her face back toward his. He slid it across the length of
her face, pausing to briefly brush his lips over her skin and suck on her
earlobe, making her gasp out loud. When his teeth bit down on the flesh gently,
Claudia couldn't help but release an embarrassing moan.
His warm breath tingled against her moistened skin,
when he asked again, this time with a whisper,
"Are...you...a...virgin?"
"No," she breathed out roughly.
Trey moved so he was facing her, staring squarely in the eyes as he
challenged her, "No — you've had mind-blowing sex that turned off that
crazy, intense mind of yours and made you stop trying to control everything? Or
you've had a dick in you?"
"You-you dirty piece of —"
"Eh, eh, eh. Answer the
question."
"Fine. I had sex when I was
twenty." Trey's hands clenched a
bit over hers, but his stare didn't waver from hers.
When he stayed silent, she added, "He was my best friend. His name is
Trevor. I felt it was important to get it out of the way and he was comfortable
with my viewpoint, I guess. Are you happy now?" Claudia barely moved an
inch, but Trey made it clear she wasn't going anywhere until he let her.
"Yup, just like I thought. For all intents and purposes, you're
a virgin, little one. And since we're being honest with each other, I would
like nothing more than to be your real first... It
could be the only way I ever get you to listen to me." Claudia swallowed a
gasp until the air turned into an awkward bubble in her throat. The thrill in
her chest dissipated quickly as Trey's face fell, and he added, "The thing
is, your answer confirms you're a nice girl. The problem is — I'm not a nice boy. And that's something we both have to deal
with."
His words simultaneously frustrated and saddened her. She took a deep
breath and muttered, "Your turn."
Trey leaned away from her, and rubbed the left side of his chest a
bit, looking away from her.
He turned his eyes back to hers. There was no wicked gleam in his
eyes, or smirk to lighten the mood. All that remained was dejection, and
something even darker — almost ominous, though she couldn't quite place it.
"I don't have
any tattoos there because I felt it was important to leave the area around my
heart bare. It doesn't deserve anything...it's my weakest organ." He moved
away from her, but she didn't stop him this time.
All titles in the Gateway to Love series are only $0.99 during the A Steel Town release week!
Three Rivers (Gateway to Love, #1)
How
do you start over when you gave everything to one life, one plan, and lost it
all?
Althea
refuses to allow herself to love again. Imprisoned in grief at twenty-four
after her husband’s sudden death, she’s convinced her heart died along with
him. She spends her days honoring his memory by clinging to the legal career he
helped her to build and to the remaining pieces linking them together.
Griffen’s
been running from his past. Despite success as an author and investigative journalist,
he’s been traveling through life on autopilot. For a decade, he’s chosen
perilous adventures and meaningless sex over the danger of any attachments.
When he finally returns home to Pittsburgh, he’s slammed by the awakened
memories and regret he’s spent years trying to escape.
A
chance encounter brings them together. Their instant desire for each other –
and the bond they discover between them – shocks them both. Despite her best
efforts, Althea can’t resist Griffen’s charm or his intriguing proposition – if
she agrees to a no-strings affair with him for the two weeks he’s in town, he
swears he’ll walk away when their time is up. Assured she can test the waters
of a new life while keeping her vow never to betray her husband’s memory by
opening her heart to another, Althea throws herself into the escape Griffen
provides her.
City of Champions (Gateway to Love, #2)
How
do you find the will to try, when you’ve spent all of your life playing on a
field strewn with shattered lives and broken rules?
Tragedy
and betrayal taught Jenna Sutherland early on that her safest bet was to
fiercely avoid any risk, whether it is in work, life, or love. Now a respected
orthopedic surgical resident on the cusp of finally breaking through in her
career, she’s more guarded than ever.
When
injured NFL quarterback Wyatt McCoy bulldozes into her life there’s no denying
he’s cocky, selfish, and downright dangerous — everything Jenna’s sworn she
doesn’t want.
Suddenly
the levelheaded doctor finds herself facing down her greatest fear, and she’s
tempted to gamble all she’s fought so hard to build. The two embark on an
intense holiday love affair that quickly teeters on obsession, and tempts them
both to think they could go all-in on a real future together. Yet Wyatt’s
desperation to stay on the field — and out of the operating room — lures him to
take dangerous risks with Jenna’s trust.
Shanghai Wind (A Gateway to Love, #2.5)
How far would you be willing to go for your first
love?
Colin has broken every promise he's ever made, but
what hurts him the most is the harsh memory of the way in which he abandoned
the only girl for which he'd ever truly cared. After a summer romance in Shanghai with his host family's
daughter, Feng Huang, he begged her to join him in America, only to fail her
when she finally sacrificed everything for their future together.
Shanghai-born Feng Huang has spent the last six
years trying to get over Colin. Now beloved by the world as a famous pop star, she's moved on
with a wealthy Chinese-American entrepreneur. When Colin appears in front of
her at her boyfriend's gala celebrating her return to Shanghai, she is overcome
by both the pain and love, which still linger inside her at the mere sight of
him.
Yet, nothing is as it seems, and when the sinister
elements which have thrust them back into each other's orbit reveal themselves
and threaten more than just their precious second opportunity at love.
About Chloe T. Barlow
Chloe
is a contemporary romance novelist living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her
husband and their sweet puppy. Chloe has always loved writing and cherishes the
opportunity to craft her fictional novels and share them with the world.
Connect with Chloe
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