Laura Trentham | Excerpt from SLOW AND STEADY RUSH

Calling all country lovers: Fresh Fiction is thrilled to share an excerpt from Laura Trentham's new novel SLOW AND STEADY RUSH, available today! Set in rural Alabama, this is the first novel in the Falcon Football Series. SLOW AND STEADY RUSH is a contemporary romance with a distinct small town, country charm. To read more about the series and find out some of the songs that inspired it, visit Laura's website.

About SLOW AND STEADY RUSH

She lives by the book—and is still searching for her happily ever after.

Darcy Wilde has tried hard not to live up to her last name. As a librarian in Atlanta she lives a fine life far away from the football-obsessed town of her childhood. But when her beloved Grandmother needs help, Darcy takes a leave of absence and heads back to the home and past she left behind.

He knows how to play the field—and is in no rush to settle down.

Robbie Dalton knows a thing or two about painful pasts. After bouncing around in foster care and the Army for years he is finally ready to move on and make a home for himself in Falcon, Alabama as the newest high school football coach. Sparks fly when the sexy new coach and the sharp-tongued librarian meet, but neither of them is looking to make ties.

But when it comes to love, sometimes you’ve gotta throw away the rule book to cross the finish line…

Everything changes when Darcy falls in love, not only with the gruff, protective, and smoking hot man who's sharing her days and nights, but also with the complex tapestry of people who weave Falcon together. Could this be where she belongs - and who she belongs with?

Excerpt from SLOW AND STEADY RUSH

He rubbed his nape and shifted on the stool. “I know what you think, but I swear I’m not taking advantage of your grandmother. I worry about her being alone.”

The sincerity shading his eyes threw the door open on the fears that had kept her up at night. “I’m worried too, you know. I’m not a nurse. I don’t know how to take care of anyone. What if something bad happens?”

“Then you call for help. I’m right down the road.” His soft voice offered comfort.

“You don’t have a twin brother, do you?”

“No. Why?” His brows drew in, and his forehead wrinkled. “You’re being all nice. You were scary this afternoon.”

His head jerked backward. “I wasn’t scary.”

“Right.” She shot the word with sarcasm. “Man holding a gun looms over woman innocently swimming in river. Said man annihilates snake not ten feet away. You’re obviously a fuzzy, soft Care Bear. The one with the rainbows.”

“What are you drinking?” Although he didn’t actually smile, something in his face lightened, and his body relaxed against the bar.

“I wanted sweet tea, but Logan gave me this.” Playing her best Vanna White, she presented the glass with flourishing hands but ruined the effect by bobbling it into his arm. The glass left a damp spot on his shirt, which she felt an uncontrollable need to wipe. A multitude of thin puckered scars peeked from under his shirtsleeve.

Her fingers slipped under his sleeve to trace more scars. “What happened?”

He ignored the question, took her glass between two fingers, and sniffed the contents. His bicep rippled under her hand. “How many have you had?”

“That must have hurt terribly. I’m so sorry.”

His shoulder rolled, maybe to shake her hand off. His jaw clenched, furrows framed his thinned lips, and his body stiffened again. In fact, he looked pained. She took her hand away long enough to kiss her fingers and lay them back over his scars.

They stared at each other. His lips parted, and the frost in his eyes melted. Had she actually…yes, she had kissed his boo-boo. She snatched her hand away and tucked it under a leg. Obviously, her appendages couldn’t be trusted.

The bartender slid another full glass between them. Dalt’s gaze stayed fixed on her. “Take it away, Brian. She’s had enough.”

The bartender dumped the contents of the glass behind the counter.

“But…but, they settled my nerves.” She reached for the now empty glass and fake pouted.

“You want to wake up hung over in some asshole’s bed?” He chucked his chin toward the end of the bar.

She looked over her shoulder and caught a couple of guys staring at her. One she recognized from high school, and she waggled her fingers. He waved back with nothing more than a friendly smile and turned away. “You seriously think someone would take advantage of me?”

His gaze flickered down her body. “Someone that looks like you? Hell yeah.”

“How do I look?” She wiggled to pull her hemline down as far as the stool would allow. Oh my God, did she look slutty?

“I don’t take bait.”

“I didn’t even know you liked to fish,” she said. Only in Alabama could a conversation about drinking and one-night stands get tangled up with fishing.

He blinked a few times. “I wasn’t fishing. You were. You look real pretty.”

Had someone turned the AC off? Her breaths came faster, but it wasn’t anger driving her lungs in and out. Her gaze dropped to his chest, and she tucked hair behind her ear. This man had seen her naked mere hours ago.

“You spied on me in the river.” Her accusation came out breathy, not blameful.

“Thought you were a pig.”

Outrage shot her head up. “That’s … that’s a terrible thing to say.”

Was that red flush coursing up his neck a blush? He grunted in what she could only assume was his approximation of a laugh. “Jesus, not you … you were—” He shook his head. “ Feral pigs have been rooting the bottoms, causing flooding, overtaking natural species. I fully intended to respect your privacy until I saw the snake.”

Propping his elbow on the bar, he rested his jaw on his fist. Fine blond hair dotted the back, thickening to cover his forearm. How much hair covered his chest? Her stomach tumbled, a different kind of nerves this time.

“Why are you so nervous?” he asked.

“What?” She shifted on the stool. Was it that obvious she found him as hot as sin?

“You said the drinks settled your nerves.”

“Oh, that.” She huffed a sigh and cast a quick glance over a shoulder. It seemed like an inordinate amount of eyes were on her or him or maybe them. She leaned closer and whispered as if delivering a dire secret, “People around here remember me.”

“I thought Logan was the resident wild man growing up. You’re a librarian.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Librarians know how to party. Anyway, it’s not me they remember.”

His nose scrunched. “ That made zero sense.”

“Sense and Sensibility.” She snapped her fingers and pointed a finger between his eyes.

“What?” he asked. This time his laugh was unmistakable. He wrapped his hand around her finger and pulled it away. His fingers skittered over the back of her hand before retreating to the neck of his beer. The heat of his touch made her feel like looking for a brand.

“The last party I went to in Atlanta. Everyone came as a famous author. I dressed up like Jane Austen. A corset and everything.”

“Wow. You librarians are animals.” His smile was wide and sexy and teasing. The somber cast of his face transformed into a thing of beauty. Warm, tingly ribbons trailed over and inside her body.

“Dalt is an unusual name. What’s your last name?” she asked.

“Dalton.”

“Your name’s Dalt Dalton?”

His smile crinkled his eyes. “Robert Dalton. Most people called me Robbie before I joined up. Dalt since then.”

“Robbie.” It was a good name. A name that felt natural on her lips. “You have a nice smile, Robbie.”

“So do you,” he said with a rasp.

About Laura Trentham

Laura Trentham is an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance. She is a member of RWA, and has finaled multiple times in the Golden Heart competition. A chemical engineer by training and a lover of books by nature, she lives in South Carolina.

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