Knowing the score...
Prima ballerina Noelle Nelson needs to recover from her injury and return to the stage. She won’t consider failure...or be distracted by baseball’s resident bad boy, Jace Monroe. His tattoos, wicked smile and deliciously athletic body might drive her crazy, but a media frenzy is the last thing this good girl needs.
Jace is sick with fear that his own injury will never heal, but he’s not about to let anyone notice, especially the gorgeous blonde dancer he loves to infuriate. He’s pushing himself past his physical capacity, putting his future at risk. Still, when it comes to making a play for Noelle, Jace is in scoring position—and he’s not going to back down!
Who says he has to be Mr. Right? What’s wrong with Mr. Right Now?
The world had narrowed to three things: Jace’s mouth, Noelle’s fingers and the half a cookie clutched between them.
His breath mingled with hers. “Are you ready?”
In a heartbeat, the cookie vanished from her hand and her index finger was drawn into the warm, wet vortex of his mouth. He worked his way down to her pinkie, tormenting each finger in turn with his lips, teeth and tongue until they were sucked clean.
Oh. My. God.
“I’m still hungry.”
She glanced at the tin in her lap. “There’re more cookies.”
“That’s not what I’m hungry for.”
Jace plucked the tin of cookies off her lap and set it down on the bench behind him.
“I think you know what I want...”
Finally! You met the baby of the Nelson family, ballerina Noelle, in Triple Threat. Now, three books later, she gets her own story in Triple Score.
Things aren’t all rosy for poor Noelle. She’s torn her ACL, a possible career-ending injury for a ballet dancer. So she’s holed up at an exclusive rehab center focused on one thing and one thing only—following her treatment plan and getting back onstage ASAP.
Enter bad-boy baseball player Jace Monroe. He’s ruptured the ligament in his elbow—again—and he needs to get better fast so he can rejoin his team, the Sacramento Storm, as shortstop. But unlike Noelle, Jace isn’t a by-the-books kind of guy. He’s willing to break the rules of rehab to get what he wants. And what he wants is to play baseball—and tear down the walls the elusive, alluring ballerina keeps putting up between them.
I’ve loved my time with the Nelson family, and I hope you have, too. Sadly, Triple Score is the last in The Art of Seduction series. But you’ll get the chance to catch up with all of the Nelson siblings in the epilogue. And you might get to see at least one Nelson pairing in one of my upcoming books for Harlequin Blaze. Remember Malcolm and Marisa from Triple Threat? Well, it looks as if they’ll be getting their own story, a Christmas book tentatively titled Six Pack Santa.
But first you’ll get to see more of Jace’s pals Cooper and Reid. So play ball!
Until next time,
Regina
Triple Score
Regina Kyle
REGINA KYLE was destined to be an author when she won a story contest at age eight with a touching tale about a squirrel and a nut pie. By day, she composes dry legal briefs. At night, she writes steamy romance with heart and humor. A lover of all things theatrical, Regina lives with her husband, teenage daughter and two melodramatic cats. When she’s not writing, she’s usually singing, reading, cooking or watching bad reality television.
For Diane. My only sister, my first friend. I hope you read this under the covers with a flashlight and no one catches you and tells you to go to sleep. And that you like it as much as you did Flat Stanley. W2T, 143.
Contents
Dear Reader
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
“THAT’S IT, JACE.” A female voice, thick and smoky, drifted through the closed door. “Perfect.”
A low, male moan followed. “Feels good.”
“Not too hard. Just a little more.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Noelle Nelson froze, one hand on the grip of her crutch and the other inches from the door marked “Physical Therapy.” The room was usually empty this time of night. But the couple in there clearly had a different kind of therapy session in mind.
Ewww.
She lowered her hand. Her nightly stretches would have to wait. She might not be able to do much with a torn knee ligament, but she’d be damned if she was going to let herself go. When her leg healed and she got the green light to dance again, she’d be ready. More than ready.
Noelle tightened her fists around the rubber crutch grips, fully intending to swing herself around and hobble back to her room. That was the right thing to do. Not lean in and press her ear to the door. But morbid curiosity wouldn’t let her leave without at least trying to figure out who the heck was in there. Maybe she could pick up a few pointers. It’d been a while since she’d gotten any action. Not that anyone at the rehab center had sparked her interest.