This week, we present an excerpt from the first collaboration by member A.J. Llewellyn and a friend and partner, taken from us too soon,
D.J. Manly
I walked down Oak Street, shifting my belt, making sure my holster was well hidden underneath my jacket. That was my excuse anyway. To be truthful, I was worried my belly might be hanging slightly over the belt.
It was hot. Man, oh man, it was hot. But I had to carry. It was part of the job. Thank God. I always had to be ready to jump into action, and today I had to be ready for anything.
Carrying my Glock 40 reminded me I hadn’t lost everything in coming home. Sometimes when I spent my mornings arguing with the twins over who had the biggest bowl of cereal and whose Rice Krispies crackled and snapped the loudest in the milk, it drove me nuts.
Truth is, I love the boys, but I itch to get back into action after a domestic weekend. Bad stuff had been happening in Lone Trail. Very bad. I’d filed for and received permission to carry a second gun. I had a sneaky feeling I’d need the Sig 357 now stashed in my leg holster. Not to mention the stun gun in my pocket.
I’d been idling at life’s curb too long, helping my sister over her grief at losing her husband. I’m grateful for the time I’ve been able to spend with her and the boys. They are my kids too now, bonded by more than blood. There’s something precious between us. But things are changing fast in Lone Trail. Terrible things…and I didn’t think I’d have to wait too long for something to happen.
Dang. I spotted Elsie DePriest crossing the road toward me. She was a stunning woman who seemed smart, but she’d married that buffoon Dillon, so maybe she was a big dumb-ass too.
“Hey, Elsie.”
She stopped and scowled at me, her arms full of fabric and…oh, lord…was that a yoga mat? Don’t tell me that trend’s caught on in Lone Trail…
“Hey, sugar.” Every woman in these parts called you sugar. There was nothing…flirtatious in it. She snapped her gum. I could smell it as she blew a small green bubble. Apple flavored.
“You know what that fool’s gone and done?”
By fool, I was certain she meant her husband, but I knew I had to keep up the facade of respectin’ the local sheriff.
“No. Which fool?” I hoped I looked genuinely clueless.
“My ass of a husband. He’s gone behind my back and—”
Her cell phone chirped from her big, fringe-covered red, white, and blue purse. Actually, it sang. Suds in the Bucket. Elsie’s pristine, manicured fingers didn’t look like they ever touched suds, dishes or any kind of buckets, but I suspected that was because she worked hard to make it look that way.
“Hold this for me, sugar.” She thrust all her fabrics into my arms and fumbled in her purse.
I saw my sister driving past on her way to her new medical billing classes. She gave me a finger wave. I couldn’t wave back, and I think she was laughing.
Elsie took out the most blinged-out cell phone I’d ever seen. “What is it, Jesse-Belle?” she snapped when she checked the readout.
Jesse-Belle. I stifled a groan. Elsie’s niece is the biggest man-eater in town. Trouble is, she has her sights, and none too insignificant teeth, set on taking a chomp out of me.
Elsie grunted, rolled her eyes a couple of times and muttered, “Don’t be a fool, JB, I’m not letting you use my photo so you can find an online date,” before ending the call. She dropped her phone back into the purse and retrieved her items from my arms.
“Dillon used our damned miles for some fool mission. Chasing after some big-city cop. As if we don’t have enough of them running around here!”
She’d piqued my interest until she said, “At first I thought he was having an affair.”
“Oh, Elsie, he’d never do that!” Nobody else would touch him. Not even with a ten-foot bull hook.
“Hmmm…” She thinned her lips, the expression in her eyes dangerous. If I were Dillon I’d make her taste-test all my meals before eating them myself. She is pissed!
About Orgasmic Texas Dawn
Canadian cop Kieran Fox has fallen from grace after a disastrous romance with the wrong guy—the head of a drug cartel. When Sheriff Dillon DePriest moseys on up north begging Kieran to come to his town of Lone Trail, Texas, to help him deal with a gang of murderous drug dealers, Kieran agrees, if only to get away from the scene of his own crime.
Soon thereafter, Kieran learns that the tough little Texas town is knees-deep in an escalating mystery. There’s a cross-dressing Cher impersonator, a killer missing some gold teeth and his…er…dangly bits. And worse, there’s Kieran’s growing attraction for Lone Trail’s sexy U.S. Marshal, Jubilee Mason, that he neither wants or needs.
Find it on Amazon.
About the authors
D.J. Manly was a prolific author who teamed up with BSR member A.J. Llewellyn to pen several series of romance novels.
Read about BestSelling Reads member A.J. Llewellyn.
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